A simple congee (rice porridge) recipe
Congee is a simple delicious food that is commonly enjoyed in many parts of Asia at breakfast. It is also called upon to support a person with weak Spleen Qi; the energy of the Spleen is responsible for digestion and the production of Blood. So in Asia it relied on to nourish the elderly, postpartum women and the ailing.
It has a simple clean taste that is comforting and replenishing to a body in recovery.
The basic components of congee are 1 cup of rice to 5-6 cups of water and then slow cook.
The easiest way to cook congee is in a slower cooker/crockpot. Put the ingredients in before bed and wake to your breakfast waiting for you.
If you don’t have a slow cooker you can cook it on the hob on the lowest setting. It is said the longer the congee cooks the more powerful it becomes and it is better to use too much water than not enough. Anything between 1 hour and 6 hours cooking time is fine!
Condiments for your congee
Here is a list from Paul Pitchford’s Healing with Whole Foods book of possible condiments and their benefits:
Aduki bean: Diuretic; curative for oedema and gout
Apricot Kernel: for coughs and asthma, expels sputum and intestinal gas
Carrot: Digestive aid, eliminates flatulence
Celery: Cooling in summer; benefits large intestine
Chestnut: Tonifies Kidneys, strengthens knees and loin, useful in treating haemorrhages
Water Chestnut: Cooling to viscera; benefits digestive organs
Chicken or Mutton broth: wasting illnesses and injuries
Duck or Carp Broth: Reduces Deena and swelling
Fennel: Harmonises the Stomach, expels gas, cures hernia
Ginger: Warming antiseptic to viscera, used for deficient cold digestive weakness, diarrhoea, anorexia, vomiting and indigestion
Kidney from Pig, Sheep or Deer: strengthens the kidneys, benefits the knees and lower back, treats impotence (use organic kidney)
Leek: Warming to viscera, good for chronic diarrhoea
Liver from Sheep or Chicken: Benefits diseases of the liver, very powerful (use organic)
Mallow: Moistening for feverishness, aids digestion
Mung Bean: Cooling, especially for summer heat, reduces fevers, thirst relieving
Mustard: Expels phlegm, clear stomach congestion
Salted onion: Diaphoretic, lubricating muscles
Black pepper: Expel gas, recommended for pain in bowels
Red Pepper: prevents malaria and cold conditions
Pine nut kernel: Moistening to hear and lungs, harmonises large intestine, useful in wind diseases
Poppy seed: Relieves vomiting
Purslane: Detoxifies, recommended for rheumatism and swellings
Radish: Digestant, benefits the diaphragm
Pickled Radish: Benefits digestion and blood
Brown Rice: Diuretic, thirst-quenching, nourishing, good for nursing mothers
Sweet rice: Demulcent, used for diarrhoea, vomiting and indigestion
Scallion bulb: Cures cold diarrhoea in the aged
Sesame seed: Moistening to intestines; treats rheumatism
Shepherd’s Purse: brightens the eyes and benefits the live
Spinach: harmonising and moistening to viscera; sedative
Taro root: Nutritious; aids the stomach, build blood
Wheat: Cooling; used with fevers; clear digestive tract; also calming and sedating due to wheat’s nourishing effect on the heart
Yoghurt and Honey: Beneficial to heart and lungs
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