Congee: The Ultimate Food For Healthy Digestion & Well-Being

There are infinite variations on congee to support your well-being. A congee is Traditional Chinese Medicinal porridge made from rice. It is seen as a powerful therapeutic food for strengthening digestion, boosting energy and aiding in the recovery from illness. The base of a congee remains the same but with the addition of various condiments you can gear the recipe to what your body needs at the time.

THE HOW TO:

A basic congee can be made from using ½ cup of rice to 3 cups of liquid.

This liquid can be water for a very plain congee, milk or nut milks (soya milk /rice milk or almond milk) for a sweet rice pudding type of congee, or you can use vegetable or chicken stock for a savoury congee. You may also prefer to use a ½ water ½ milk /stock mixture depending on your taste preferences.

The amount of liquid you use will determine the thickness of the porridge, which can be thick like oat porridge or watery like a soup, simply adjust the amount of liquid depending on your preference.

Polished rice is usually the grain used however sweet (glutinous white/brown rice) can be used to give a sweeter tasting congee. You can also use Arboria (risotto) rice or another grain such as barely or millet for the savoury congee.

To prepare, simply rinse the rice thoroughly and place with the liquid in a slow cooker overnight on low heat. By placing your ingredients in the slow cooker overnight you wake up to a nourishing snack that can be eaten throughout the day with no further effort. *If you wish to cook in a pot or oven it will need to be prepared on a low heat for several hours.

To customized this basic recipe, any combination of the following can be added to suit your individual tastes (as example);

Sweet Congees

•  Add fresh or dried fruits such as apricots, figs, red or black dates

• Add spices such cinnamon, cardamom or vanilla

• For a creamy congee you can use Arborio rice with coconut milk (full strength or diluted with water depending on your taste) with a whole vanilla pod and cinnamon to taste

Savoury Congees

•  Add meat on the bone (for example chicken pieces or pork bones) to cook through and add flavour

• Add fresh Shiitake mushrooms cooked with a little garlic, topping with freshly chopped spring onion when cooked

• For a variation on chicken soup add chicken bones and ginger with chicken or vegetable stock

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Starting to feel a cold coming on?

Try out this combination to help your body to fight an oncoming cold.

• 1 cup of sweet (glutinous) brown rice

• 4 green onions, finely chopped

• 3 Tbsp of minced ginger root

Steps:

1. In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add rice and return to boik. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours. The congee should have a soup-like consistency; if there is not enough liquid left in the pan, add up to 1/2 cup of water

2. Stir in green onions & ginger; simmer for 10 minutes, then stir well.

3. Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Warm in a small saucepan over low heat before serving.

   
   

   *Extra Health Tip- When you are sick you can use herbal tea or vegetable broth in place of some or all of the water to cook the rice. Cooking the congee with an herbal tea or broth infuses the dish with additional healing ingredients.

Recipe- Scatter-the-Cold Congee (found in Nutritional Healing with Chinese Medicine, by Ellen Goldsmith and Maya Klein)