Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love.
This recipe for Thai Jok with Pork Meatballs came from my podcast guests, Sherri and Dominic. Make sure you listen to their Episode 197: The Magnetic Thai Grandma and Her Soothing Breakfast Jok while you make their Jok with Pork Meatballs recipe!
Typically eaten during breakfast or when you are feeling under the weather, Jok (or rice porridge) is widely considered the ultimate comfort food in many Asian countries. Warm and hearty, yet mild in flavor, its gentle on the stomach and easy to enjoy first thing in the morning. This Jok recipe is satisfying on its own, but the addition of pork meatballs and coddled eggs, will keep you full and energized for a productive day!
P.S. Looking for more savory breakfast ideas? Check out this recipe for Shakshuka or this recipe for Bánh Xèo Tôm Nhảy or Vietnamese Jumping Shrimp Sizzling Pancakes!
Dominic's Memories of Jok
Growing up, I would just, you know, wake up with the smell of fried garlic. The jasmine rice, when you boil it, it has an aromatic smell. And it's like, it's my alarm clock.... and a warm hug.
Sherri's Love of Jok
What makes it stand out are the beautiful toppings, the bright green cilantro, the bright yellow ginger, fresh ginger, the crispy golden garlic, the white pepper gently sprinkled on it, the little zigzag of Maggi seasoning sauce, and the white and yellow egg that's in there. So all those beautiful, and green onions too, crisp green onions on top. So all those beautiful colors, it's like, I almost feel like Jok is like this white canvas and all those decorated, this beautiful canvas.
Top Tip
- This is the perfect recipe to use up leftover rice!
Ingredients
- Pork Meatballs: garlic, cilantro roots or stems, white pepper, ground pork, oyster sauce, Thai thin soy sauce, tapioca starch or cornstarch
- Porridge: cooked jasmine rice, chicken broth, tapioca starch or cornstarch, water
- Toppings (optional): white pepper, crispy fried garlic, coddled or jammy eggs, ginger, cilantro, green onions, Maggi seasoning sauce
Instructions
- Grind the garlic, cilantro roots or stems, and white pepper into a paste, then mix it with the remaining pork meatball ingredients until fully combined.
- Blend the rice and broth to a coarse puree, then cook it gently in a pot, stirring often. Add the tapioca slurry and simmer until thickened and lightly bubbling.
- Roll the pork mixture into small balls and drop them into the porridge. Cook until the meatballs float and are firm, which only takes a few minutes.
- Pour boiling water over eggs in heatproof containers and let sit until softly set, then remove from the water.
- Serve and add your preferred toppings.
Rice Porridge Toppings
The possibilities are endless when it comes to toppings for jok/congee. Since this rice porridge is typically made with broth, the toppings you will find are going to be savory. Sherri and Dominic suggest a few toppings, but below is a much broader list that includes other topping ideas from different countries.
Proteins
- Jammy egg or soft boiled egg or coddled egg
- Century egg (an egg that been preserved in clay)
- Pork meatballs
- Shredded chicken
- Pork floss (dried meat with a fluffy texture)
- Fried spam
Crunchy
- Fried garlic or fried shallots
- Peanuts
- Sesame seeds
Seasoning
- White pepper powder
- Furikake (Japanese seasoning)
Fresh produce
- Cilantro
- Scallions
Fermented toppings
- Kimchi
- Pickled radish
- Picked ginger
Sauces
- Soy sauce
- Chili oil
- Sesame oil
- Fish sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Sriracha
- Maggi (umami sauce)
The Many Names of Rice Porridge
This is one of those dishes that has many different names and can be found all around Asia, but the foundation of the recipe is essentially, rice, water, and broth. Below are a list of names that you may have heard referring to this polyonymous (having many names) dish.
- Chinese: Congee or Zhōu or Jook (Cantonese)
- Thailand: Jok or Khao Tom
- Vietnam: Cháo
- Burma: Hsan Pyok
- Japan: Okayu
- India: Kanji
- The Philippines: Arroz Caldo
- Indonesia: Bubur Ayam
source: How Stuff Works
What Is Broken Rice?
Many recipes will use "broken rice" and this simply means that the rice has been ground down into smaller fragments. You can blend it up in a blender to create the desired texture. For this recipe, I just used regular Jasmine rice and it turned out fine!
Equipment
Storage
- Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 3-5 days.
More from Southeast Asia
More Breakfast Recipes
Listen to Sherri and Dominic's Episode
PrintRecipe
Thai Jok Breakfast Porridge with Pork and Crispy Garlic
Description
Discover the best Thai Jok recipe with savory pork meatballs. Learn how to make this traditional, creamy rice porridge at home topped with coddled eggs and fresh herbs.
Ingredients
Fried Garlic
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 cup of neutral oil
Pork Meatballs
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 cilantro roots or 3 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro stems
- 1 tsp. white pepper powder or ½ tsp. whole white peppercorns
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tsp. Thai thin soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. tapioca starch or cornstarch
Porridge
- 2 cups broken rice or cooked jasmine rice
- 6 cups chicken broth
- ¼ - ½ cup tapioca starch or corn starch (I found ¼ cup was plenty)
- 1 cup water
Toppings (optional)
- White pepper powder
- Crispy Fried Garlic
- Coddle or Jammy eggs
- Thinly slice ginger
- Coarsely chopped cilantro, leaves and stems
- Green onion sliced into ¼ inc. slices
- Maggi Seasoning Sauce
Instructions
Cue up the Episode!
Make sure you listen to Sherri and Dominic's episode of The Storied Recipe Podcast, "TITLE" while you make their amazing Thai Jok.
Make the Recipe
Fry the Garlic
- Mince the garlic.
- Add the garlic and oil to a saucepan.
- Turn on to low heat.
- Cook until the garlic becomes fragrant and light golden brown.
- Turn off the heat and allow the garlic to continue cooking until a dark golden brown.
- Drain the oil and reserve for dishes that would benefit from garlic infused oil! My husband uses it to make his eggs and Dom & Sherri use it to make popcorn. 🙂
Make the Pork Meatballs
- Use a mortar and pestle or food processor to break down the garlic, cilantro roots or stems and white pepper powder into a paste.
- In a large bowl, add the paste along with the rest of the pork dumpling ingredients, and mix with your hands until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Use a cookie scoop or your hands to form meatballs about 1.5 inches wide (or two bites 🙂 wide.
Make the Eggs
- Soft boil the eggs by bringing a pot of water to a boil then cooking the eggs for 5-7 minutes. Cool in an ice bath.
- If you don't prefer this idea, you can wait and cook the eggs in the porridge itself later like you would with Shakshuka.
Make the Jok
- In a blender, combine cooked rice and broth, and blend on low to a coarse puree, the texture of steel cut oatmeal. Be careful not to over-blend it, or you will lose the texture of the rice.
- Pour the puree into a large pot, and place over medium-high heat.
- Stir it occasionally to make sure the bottom doesn't burn, and bring it to a gentle boil.
- Whisk together the tapioca flour and water until blended. Add it to the gently boiling rice mixture while stirring.
- Continue to stir it to prevent it from burning for about 2-3 minutes, or until thickened. If it's not thickening after a few minutes, make sure it's boiling, and add a few tablespoons more of a tapioca water mixture.
- Once thickened, lower the heat so the porridge bubbles a little.
Cook the Meatballs
- Take the pork dumpling mixture out of the fridge and gently drop them into the rice porridge.
- When all the dumplings have firmed up, and risen to the top, which usually just takes a few minutes, the rice porridge is ready to serve.
- If you didn't soft boil the eggs, now is the time to crack them into the bubbling porridge and let them cook gently.
Serve and Add Toppings
- Ladle the rice porridge and pork meatballs into four bowls.
- Arrange the eggs, cilantro, green onions, fried garlic, Maggi and white pepper powder to your liking.
Notes
Recipe shared with permission from Sherri and Thai-Foodie.com
Would love to hear from you!