Level 4 · Pureed: smooth and thick enough to eat with a spoon, with no lumps and no chewing needed. What do the levels mean?
Serves: 3 · Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, mostly simmering
Ingredients: Jasmine rice, low-sodium chicken broth, cooked skinless chicken, fresh ginger, salt.
Steps
Simmer 1/2 cup rice in 5 cups broth with 2 slices ginger for 60 to 75 minutes, stirring often, until thick and broken down. Remove the ginger.
Add 1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken and blend until smooth.
Cook a few minutes more, stirring, until it mounds on a spoon. Season lightly.
Shortcut: Use a rice cooker’s porridge setting, or start with leftover cooked rice.
Check the texture: it holds its shape on a spoon and slides off in one spoonful when the spoon is tilted, leaving little behind. On a fork it sits in a mound, and no liquid separates out.
Use the food level recommended by your speech-language pathologist or doctor. Textures change with cooking time, cooling and reheating, so check the food each time before serving, using the simple fork and spoon tests in our swallowing guide. Sit upright to eat, take small bites, and stay upright for 30 minutes after.