Go Back
A bowl of instant pot congee topped with pan seared mushrooms.

Vegan instant pot congee with mushrooms

Shwetha
Easy rice congee paired with pan seared mushrooms, comfort food made convenient in instant pot
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Pressure build and release 20 minutes
Course Breakfast, Main Course
Cuisine asian
Servings 3 people

Equipment

  • Instant pot
  • Heavy bottomed pan

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup jasmine rice or any white rice.
  • 4 cups water check notes for variations
  • 1 stalk lemongrass
  • 1 inch ginger

For pan grilled mushrooms

  • 8 oz mushrooms
  • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
  • ½ tsp mushroom stir fry sauce or use more soy sauce instead
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1-2 tsp oil

Additional toppings

  • Chilli oil
  • finely chopped green onions
  • soy sauce

Instructions
 

Congee

  • Add rice into inner pot of instant pot. Rinse the rice twice.
  • Slice ginger. Smash lemongrass with the back of your knife, this will help it release its flavours.
  • Add the ginger and lemongrass into the inner pot.
  • Close the lid and set the valve to sealing.
  • Select porridge mode on instant pot. It is a preset for 20 minutes in high pressure.
    Note: While the rice is cooking, prepare the mushrooms.
  • In about five minutes, instant pot will reach pressure and the countdown will begin.
  • Once the cooking time is done, let the pressure release normally, takes about 15 minutes.
  • When pressure valve goes down, move the knob from sealing to release and open the lid carefully. Mix well.
    Thickness of instant pot congee after pressure release.

Mushrooms

  • Clean and slice the mushrooms. Note: To clean the mushrooms, quickly rinse and dry them immediately for the best sear.
  • Heat a heavy bottomed pan, preferably cast iron, on medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil and swirl.
  • When oil is hot, place mushrooms on the pan making sure that they are not on top of each other. Do not cover
    NOTE: If they are crowded, they will get steamed instead of getting nice and golden.
  • When one side turns golden, turn the mushrooms over so the other side can sear.
  • When both sides are golden, turn the heat to low and add garlic powder. Stir for 15 seconds.
  • Add dark soy sauce, stir fry sauce give everything a mix and remove off the heat so that the sauces do not burn.
    Instant pot settings for vegan congee.

Serving

  • Carefully discard the lemongrass and pieces of ginger.
  • Serve congee hot with the pan seared mushrooms on top.
  • Top with chilli oil, green onions and enjoy!

Notes

  • Congee gets thicker as it cools. Add water and reheat to make it thinner. 
Rice
Use any kind of white rice. Brown rice can be used if you like some texture in your congee.
Water
For my liking, I like to use 1 part rice to 8 parts water in instant pot.
Variations
To cook rice,
  • Use half vegetable broth and half water instead of all water.
  • Use half coconut milk and half water.
  • Use broth made using soaking dry shitake mushrooms can be used instead of water. 
  • Vegetables can be added in to make a vegetable congee. 
 
Keyword vegan congee, vegetarian congee