Like western porridge, Chinese congee has its function as an everyday meal. Besides, congee is considered as food therapy for the unwell, including babies, ladies after giving birth, older people and people with digestive problems.
Chinese congee recipes are as varied as the many Chinese regions. Its basic ingredients are liquid (water) and different types of rice. The simple plain Chinese congee recipe can be made very easily:
Chinese Congee simple Ingredients:
1/2 cup Chinese rice
8 cups water
Put rice and water together into a large pot and boil. Once boiled, turn heat down to medium low. Leave the pot lid semi-covered as it allows steam and air out. Stir a few times during the simmering, until the rice has a sticky, creamy texture. Well done.
When you eat congee, Chinese people usually eat it with some souse vegetables/sea food, salted duck/chicken/pigeon eggs, smoked meat or sausages, even some stir fried food as desired.
In fact, congee ingredients are various. People add eggs, sausages, herbs, vegetables, meat, red beans and mung beans into it. The rice can vary: sticky rice, brown rice, black rice etc. Congee can also be made from other grains, like cornmeal, millet, barley, and sorghum. Multigrain congee mixes are popularly cooked with sweet potato, red date and goqi berries.
Water is normally used as congee cooking liquid, but people like to pour some chicken, or pork stock into congee.
In China, congee is also used to feed young infants. The cooking time is much longer than normal. This congee is not seasoned or at most seasoned with a little vegetable juice, or mixed with pre-steamed and de-boned fish.
Ingredients can also be determined by their supposed therapeutic value as well as flavour.
Here are some sample recipes for various purposes:
Chinese congee recipes for the post-natal care:
1.Sweet potato, diced, cleaned chicken – boil together with ginger in the water for 2 hours. Separating the chicken and the juice, keep the chicken stock in the fridge when it has cooled down, and use it as cooking stock or for boiling vegetables or in rice soup. Eat sweet potato mash while hot – chicken can be served with a dip or sauce (while it is still warm).
2. Soak sticky rice in water for 3 hours and boil to soften, add dark brown sugar and eat as it while still hot. No more than two bowls a day.
3. Pour maize or millet into boiling water until boiled again then simmer it until it softens, break an egg into boiled millet soup, stirring it up, then add dark brown sugar to serve.