Shrimp & Vegetable Korean Rice Porridge (죽 Juk)

I've been a bit sick lately.
Came down with a cold over the weekend and have been carrying around a roll of toilet paper and a plastic bag for nose-blowing purposes (TMI?).
On top of that I got bitten on both feet by fire ants and my feet have since become swollen little sausage feet. Needless to say, all I've wanted to do lately is sit at home sipping on apple juice and watching Korean dramas.
Today I finally started to feel better and I'm chalking up a direct correlation to the juk I made yesterday. This stuff....omg. If I had known how easy it was to make, I would have been making it at least once a week. I adore this stuff. Back in Korea I used to eat it as much as I possibly could in the winter, sick or not.

Here I did a shrimp & vegetable version. But the awesome thing about juk is that it's so versatile. You can substitute whatever veggies/meat you like.

P.S. My unni told me she likes to make a slow-cooker version at night before going to bed so that she has some to eat in the morning. Definitely trying that soon and posting a follow-up.

Shrimp & Vegetable Juk
Serves 3-4
Adapted from my beloved Aeri's Kitchen

• 1c uncooked short-grain rice
• 5c water
• handful of dried seaweed (opt.)
• 1.5 Tbsp sesame oil
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and chopped finely
• 1c small shrimp, cooked
• 1/2c carrots, finely chopped
• 1/4c green onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt

Garnish (opt.):

• 1 sheet roasted seaweed
• sesame seeds

Directions:

Place rice in a medium-size bowl and cover completely with water. In another bowl, pour the 5 cups of water and add your dried seaweed (you can also soak your dried shiitake mushrooms here if you need to). If you don't have seaweed that's okay, you can skip that step. If your shrimp is frozen, take it out now and soak it in cold water to thaw. Let all of these sit and soak for about 30 minutes.

Set a large pot over high heat and pour in your sesame oil. Drain and add the rice to the pot. Fry for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Take your 5 cups of water and discard (or save for another recipe) the seaweed. Pour the water in with the rice and cook for 15 minutes over medium, until the rice is almost completely cooked. Stir occasionally.

Add in the shrimp, carrot and mushrooms. Cook 3 more minutes on high. Add green onions and cook for one more minute. Remove from heat and add the 1/2 tsp of salt. Add more as desired.

For the garnish, crush the roasted seaweed so that it can be sprinkled on top. Then sprinkle some sesame seeds, and done.