Interesting Recipes

Healing Congee (Chinese Rice Porridge)

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Congee is a very poplar nourishing meal. It is very gentle and beneficial for our digestive system; Stomach holds the food, and than the Spleen transports and transforms it – Human body depends on the proper function of these two organs.

Congee is very easy to make;  you’ll need a 5:1 ratio of water – grains with a pinch of Himalayan salt. Once you incorporate congee in your diet, you’ll see improvement in digestive functions and the consistent improvement in energy levels. It is believed that  those who need to lose weight will lose it and those who need to gain weight will gain it they incorporate porridge in their diet (and on regular basis).
The best (and the easiest way) is to cook it overnight in a crock pot (make sure you set it up on low before you go to sleep). In China they say that the longer the congee cooks, the more healing it becomes, especially if you make it with a home made broth. I personally prefer it with a bone marrow broth.
You can make it savory ad sweet, and you can make it spice and pungent – it all depends on what your flavor is.
You will use 5:1 ratio as a base – but you can get really creative with ingredients you add.
For a sweet flavored Congee – add honey, nuts, dates, little ginseng or ginger, you can also add dried fruits. If you don’t like friend foods cooked – you can always add fresh fruit over your congee once it’s cooked.
If you prefer savory flavors, add home made broths to it along with meats of your choice (chicken, pork, beef – even fish).
I like to garnish my congees with chopped green onions, but you cal also add parsley or cilantro.
If you’re vegan or a vegetarian – you just omit the aria product.
HEALING PROPERTIES

This kind of a meal is easily digested and absorbed, it will nourish the blood and your energy levels, it aids the digestion, it can also increase a supply of milk in breastfeeding women. The liquid can even be strained from the porridge to drink as a supplement for infants and for serious conditions.**

You can also add in above mentioned bone marrow broth, vegetables of your choice, spices or meats.  Below are some of the more common rice-based congees and their specific effects.*

SOME OF THE COMMON CONGEES:
  1. Aduki Bean: Diuretic; curative for edema and gout
  2. Apricot Kernel: Recommended for coughs and asthma, expels sputum and intestinal gas
  3. Carrot: Digestive aid, eliminates flatulence
  4. Celery: Cooling in summer; benefits large intestine
  5. Chestnut: Tonifies kidneys, strengthens knees and loin; useful in treating anal hemorrhages
  6. Water Chestnut: Cooling to viscera; benefits digestive organs
  7. Chicken or Mutton Broth: Recommended for wasting illnesses and injuries
  8. Duck or Carp Broth: Reduces edema and swelling
  9. Fennel: Harmonizes stomach, expels gas; cures hernia
  10. Ginger: Warming and antiseptic to viscera; used for deficient cold digestive weakness: diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, and indigestion.
  11. Kidney from Pig, Sheep, or Deer: Strengthens kidneys; benefits knees and lower back; treats impotence (use organic kidney)
  12. Leek: Warming to viscera; good for chronic diarrhea
  13. Liver from Sheep or Chicken: Benefits diseases of the liver; very powerful (use organic organ meats)
  14. Mallow: Moistening for feverishness; aids digestion
  15. Mung Bean: Cooling, especially for summer heat; reduces fevers; thirst relieving
  16. Mustard: Expels phlegm; clears stomach congestion
  17. Salted Onion: Diaphoretic; lubricating to muscles
  18. Black Pepper: Expels gas; recommended for pain in bowels
  19. Red Pepper: Prevents malaria and cold conditions
  20. Pine Nut Kernel: Moistening to heart and lungs; harmonizes large intestine; useful in wind diseases and constipation
  21. Poppy Seed: Relieves vomiting and benefits large intestine
  22. Purslane: Detoxifies; recommended for rheumatism and swellings
  23. Radish: Digestant; benefits the diaphragm
  24. Pickled Radish (salt): Benefits digestion and blood
  25. Brown Rice: Diuretic; thirst-quenching; nourishing; good for nursing mothers
  26. Sweet Rice: Demulcent; used for diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion
  27. Scallion Bulb: Cures cold diarrhea in the aged
  28. Sesame Seed: Moistening to intestines; treats rheumatism
  29. Shepherd’s Purse: Brightens the eyes and benefits the liver
  30. Spinach: Harmonizing and moistening to viscera: sedative
  31. Taro Root: Nutritious; aids the stomach; builds blood
  32. Wheat: Cooling; used with fevers; clears digestive tract; also calming and sedating due to wheat; nourishing effect on the heart
  33. Yogurt and Honey: Beneficial to heart and lungs

*Adapted from Chinese Medicinal Herbs, translated and researched by F. Porter Smith and G. A. Stuart; San Francisco; Georgetown Press, 1973, p. 470.

**Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford

Gordana Smith

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