MUZIChinese Matrix
Congee and Thick Soups · FFET10130
Fish, shrimp and lean pork with peanuts and fried dough, named for the small boats it was once sold from.
A white porcelain bowl holds creamy white congee topped with fish slices, shrimp and thin lean pork, scattered with fried peanuts, pieces of fried dough stick and chopped scallion, with a white porcelain spoon in the bowl.
Congee boiled from rice, and thick soups.
Sampan congee is a Cantonese congee from Guangzhou with sliced fish, shrimp, lean pork and other toppings, plus fried peanuts, fried dough sticks and scallion. Its name refers to the small boats it was once sold from. It probably began in Xiguan, Liwan, where boat households sold it on Lizhi Lake. It is also linked to pleasure boating on Lizhiwan in the Guangxu era: boat people cooked it with their fresh catch before shops fixed the toppings. No dated primary text was found, and the 2024 report does not identify the text behind the Guangxu-era link.
Sampan congee is a Cantonese congee with many toppings: sliced fish, shrimp and lean pork, with fried peanuts, fried dough sticks and scallion. The word ting zai in the name means the small boats it was once sold from. Variants add pork skin, jellyfish, beef or squid.1
Pleasure boating became popular on Lizhiwan in the Guangxu era (1875 to 1908), with boat people calling out sampan congee from their boats; boats still sold it by the Pearl River in the 1970s. Neither historical account provides a dated original text, and the May 29, 2024 report does not identify the text behind the Guangxu-era link.1,2
Guangzhou, around Lizhiwan and Xiguan. It probably began in Xiguan, Liwan, and is linked to the boat households of the Pearl River Delta, a connection also noted in a 2021 feature. The Hong Kong version in a 2015 English-language food article omits roast duck, roast goose and jellyfish.1,2,3,5
The congee is simmered until very soft. In the method described in 2021, the fish is cut fresh and cooked just through, never overdone. One home method simmers the basic congee for about 1.5 hours, then puts raw fish, ginger and scallion in bowls and ladles very hot congee over them; another begins with pig bone and fish maw stock, cooks the rice for about 0.5 hours and blanches the toppings separately.3,4,5
Boat people put in whatever they had caught, fresh fish, shrimp, crab, clams or snails, and sold it to customers on pleasure boats or under the riverside trees; shops later fixed the toppings and added fried crisp wafers.2
A Guangzhou restaurant guide dated February 15, 2025 lists sampan congee among the highlights at Nanyuan Restaurant, the only one of its 10 restaurants to mention it.6
One account says that a young man from a once wealthy Xiguan family lost his fortune, bought a small boat on Lizhi Bay and began selling congee to earn a living, and that this is how sampan congee began.
Told in: An account relayed by a 2015 English-language food article, which credits a Chinese encyclopedia entry; it is unverified, and no other source listed here tells it.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the simpler way I make it at home: the congee is made from rice, the toppings are fish, shrimp and lean pork, and I cook all of them through in the pot rather than relying on hot congee to cook raw fish in the bowl. The fried peanuts and fried dough sticks go on at the end to keep them crisp. The amounts and timings are my own choices at home, informed by two published recipes.
Allergens: fish, shellfish, peanut, wheat, sesame
