I’m more of an Instagram cooker than a food blogger, but Kevin asked for a recipe. Annnnnd of course there really wasn’t a recipe. Nor do I have any special claim to great congee, but it is Rampfest so here goes.

• Start with about a 1:6 ratio of rice to stock.

I used about a fat cup of rice. So the rest of the “measurements” reflect that. We didn’t have enough brown rice on-hand (which I typically prefer) so I supplemented with some arborio. But we did have a fresh batch of shrimp stock which worked out great for congee.

• A few dashes of soy sauce and a lot of salt.

My eating companion is a salt fiend. I literally have never been accused of over-salting her food. YMMV, but go easy at the beginning since you’ll be reducing all that stock way down.

• Boil away. Okay simmer. For about an hour. Or longer if you have the time. Stir often.

You’ll want to cook it until the rice is way over saturated and the whole thing is stewy. Add water and thin out, if it starts to get too dry. It’s not risotto, but it will stick and burn if you let it.

• Stir in 3-4 ramps thinly sliced.
• A slug of rice wine vinegar.

Add these towards the end. Like 5 min before serving. The vinegar will really brighten things up. Real congee is pretty bland, but this is ramp congee, we don’t have time for bland.

• Go crazy with condiments.

We used diced jalapeño, carrots, and daikon, more sliced ramps, and sausage. Endless combinations. Whatever you have in your pantry. Tofu? Sure. Sriracha wouldn’t hurt anyone. A sprinkle of of sesame oil maybe. The more the merrier, I say.

The standout was the sausage – which was from the amazing Underground Butcher. I tried to buy two smoked Hungarians, but ended up with one and an andouille. Damn hippies. Anyways, this combo worked fine. I broke up the sausage and sautéed them a bit before spiking them with some rice wine vinegar and (gasp) powdered ginger.

I scooped the meat out and used the rendered fat to sauté some baby bok choy because vegetables!

It was a delicious meal. You should make some non-canonical congee. But more importantly, celebrate Rampfest 2016. It will be over before you know it.