How to Make Thai Jok

Tired of your typical breakfast? Try something new, savory Thai jok, rice congee, with pork dumplings!

Do you love trying new dishes like Thai Jok or miss eating it on the streets of Thailand? Do wish you could make it for your family, but feel intimidated to try making it at home?

I’ve been there too, but not anymore!

Over a decade ago I fell in love with Thai food, my Thai Hubby, and cooking Thai food, and after learning from my Thai Hubby and Thai grandma-n-law, and cooking for years, I now teach Thai cooking classes at my home every week!

And since you can’t make it to my Thai cooking class in Boone right now, I’m happy to teach you how to make Thai Jok and answer your questions, just like if you were at my Thai cooking class in my kitchen.

What is Thai jok (aka congee, or rice porridge)?

In Thailand, Thai rice porridge or congee is called jok, โจ๊ก. Thai jok is a savory porridge that sounds super boring, and looks like a bowl of gruel, but tastes out of this world heartwarming. 

Thai jok is one of those reminders to never judge a book by its cover. 

Thai rice congee is cooked jasmine rice broken up, and combined with chicken broth, pork dumplings, a coddled egg, and sprinkled on top of the steaming white goodness are lots of congee toppings like green onions, cilantro, crispy fried garlic and ginger.

Rice congee is often eaten for breakfast in Asian countries, and also given to babies and those who are sick because it’s mild, and easy to digest. Yup, heart-warming chicken noodle soup vibes!

Breakfast Thailand

As I’ve shared in my Thai Omelette recipe, the one thing I missed eating while living in Thailand was American breakfasts like yogurt, granola and strawberries, or waffles with peanut butter and maple syrup. 

In Thailand, at breakfast most people eat whatever they had for dinner the night before. Or Thai Jok, which is one of the few Thai dishes that Thais often eat at breakfast, but they are also open to eating it at any time of the day! 

Love how Thais don’t discriminate when to eat heart-warming Thai food!

What rice is used for making Thai jok?

Broken Jasmine rice is the most popular rice to use for making Thai rice congee, which you can buy from the Asian market. 

But since I can’t find broken jasmine rice typically, I substitute broken jasmine rice by putting cooked jasmine rice in a blender with chicken broth, whizzing it up a few seconds, and making it “broken” that way. 

Thai Jok Ingredients:

PORK DUMPLINGS

4 garlic cloves

2 cilantro roots or 3 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro stems

1 tsp. white pepper powder or 1/2 tsp. whole white peppercorns

1 lb. ground pork

1 tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tsp. Thai thin soy sauce

1 tbsp. tapioca starch or cornstarch

Congee

2 c. cooked jasmine rice

6 c. chicken broth

1/2 c. tapioca starch

1 c. water

How to Make Thai Jok

Congee is made differently in each Asian country. But in Thailand Thai jok is made by:

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.

In a blender, combine 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 1-gallon 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.

Take the pork dumpling mixture out of the fridge, and roll it into balls about 1 in. or so in diameter.

Drop the balls one at a time 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.

To make the coddled eggs, bring a small pot of water to a boil.

Put each of the eggs in a separate heat-proof container like a tall mug.

Once the water is boiling, pour the boiling water over the eggs with a few inches of water above them.

Let the eggs sit for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your eggs.

Remove the eggs from the water.

Ladle the rice porridge and pork meatballs into four bowls.

Crack an egg into each bowl of Thai jok, and sprinkle the congee toppings on top. Add Maggi and white pepper powder to your liking.

Congee Toppings

The best part of Thai Jok, or any rice congee, are the congee toppings! 

Congee toppings take the blank canvas of Thai Jok, and make it into a masterpiece of diverse flavors and textures that warms your heart anytime you devour it. 

These are some of the most common Thai rice congee toppings:

• White Pepper Powder
• Crispy Fried Garlic
• Coddled or Jammy egg
• Thinly sliced ginger
• Cilantro
• Green onion
• Maggi seasoning sauce

What to serve with Thai Jok

Thai Jok is typically eaten on its own, with no other side dishes. But it’s important to make sure you have all the many toppings ready to go like coddled or jammy eggs, and crispy garlic topping, etc., since the chopping and prep for them can feel like making side dishes!

Sherri’s Thai Jok Story 

When my now oldest kiddo was 4-months-old and just starting to eat solid foods, I wanted him to try Thai baby food that most Thai babies eat, Thai jok, aka Thai rice porridge/rice congee that Thais love to eat for breakfast, but really they eat any time. 

I’m usually brave when it comes to making different kinds of Thai food, but for some reason I was hesitant to even try making Thai rice porridge, thinking it seemed too daunting for some reason.

So I didn’t. 

My first kiddo ate infant rice cereal, sweet potato, avocado, carrots, bananas, yogurt, all the usual American baby foods, but no Thai baby food, Thai jok.

But with my second kiddo, I wasn’t going to let my chance at serving her traditional Thai baby food pass by, even though we lived in Austin with no Thai rice porridge street vendors around. 

I almost chickened out again, but this time I got over my fear of thinking I might mess it up and just made it.

And guess what? 

Thai Hubby said the highlight of his day was eating Thai rice porridge with pork dumplings, and my baby girl kept opening her little mouth like a bird wanting to sip more and more off the baby spoon, and my older one in typical 2 year old fashion said, “Mai chop jok!” (I don’t like Thai rice porridge!)

Lesson learned: If you have a Thai dish you want to try, but you are scared of making it not taste perfectly like it’s supposed to, just do it. 

Not perfectly made Thai food is better than no Thai food, and if you do mess it up, all the more reason to make it again and revel in saying, “Wow! It tastes so much better this time!”

And many thanks to my favorite Thai cookbooks, Pok Pok by Andy Ricker, and Simple Thai Foodby Leela Punyaratabandhu that gave me the courage to attempt something new in my Thai cooking repertoire!

After you cook it up, I’m dying to see what your Thai rice porridge looks like! Share it with me @thaifoodie on Instagram!

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