While in studying in China, I was introduce to many different foods and one my favorite foods was found in a large pot every morning at breakfast. It was this sweet, milky white soup which we would ladle into our bowls and use sweet bread rolls to eat. This soup was called congee or “rice-water”, and is eaten throughout China daily as breakfast food. Congee is basically a thin porridge or gruel consisting of a handful of rice simmered in five to six times the amount of water.  It is always better to use too much water than too little. Although rice is most commonly used, other grains are sometimes used. To make congee, cook rice and water in a covered pot for four to six hours on warm, or the lowest flame possible.   A crockpot works very well for making congee. The longer you cook congee, the more powerful it becomes.

Energetics

Rice congee is beneficial for people with weak digestion due to a poor diet or illness. Since it is light and easy to digest it is recommended for those too sick to eat solid foods.  Plain congee is easily digested and assimilated, it tonifies the blood and qi energy, harmonizes the digestion, relieves inflammation or irritation, is cooling, and nourishing. Congee is also very good for increasing a nursing mothers milk production. The liquid from congee can be strained and used as a supplement for infants.

Other therapeutic properties may be added by cooking other vegetables, grains, herbs, or meats in with the rice.

Common Congee Variations

• Aduki Bean (Red Bean): Diuretic, and curative for edema and gout.

• Apricot Kernel: Recommended for coughs and asthma, expels sputum and intestinal gas.

• Carrot: Digestive aide, and eliminates flatulence.

• Celery: Cooling in summer and benefits the large intestine.

• Chestnut: Tonifies kidneys, strengthens knees and loin, and is useful in treating anal and rectal hemorrhages.

• Water Chestnut: Cooling to viscera and benefits digestive organs.

• Chicken or Mutton Broth: Recommended for wasting illnesses and injuries.

• Duck or Carp Broth: Reduces edema and swelling.

• Fennel: Harmonizes the stomach, expels gas, and cures hernia.

• Ginger: Warming and antiseptic to viscera, used for deficient cold digestive weakness, diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, and indigestion.

• Kidney (Pig, Sheep, or Deer): Strengthens kidneys, benefits knees and lower back, and treats impotence (use organic kidney).

• Leek: Warming to viscera, and good for chronic diarrhea.

• Liver (Sheep or Chicken): Benefits diseases of the liver (use organic organ meats).

• Mallow: Moistening for feverishness, and aides digestion.

• Mung Bean: Cooling, especially summer heat, reduces fevers, and relives thirst.

• Mustard: Expels phlegm and clears stomach congestion.

• Salted Onion: Diaphoretic and lubricating to muscles.

• Black Pepper: Expels gas and recommended for pain in bowels.

• Red Pepper: Prevents malaria and cold conditions.

• Pine Nut Kernel: Moistening to the heart and lungs, harmonizes large intestine, useful in wind diseases and constipation.

• Poppy Seed: Relieves vomiting and benefits the large intestine.

• Purslane: Detoxifies, and is recommended for rheumatism and swellings.

• Radish: Digestant and benefits the diaphragm.

• Pickled Radish: Benefits digestion and blood.

• Brown Rice: Diuretic, thirst quenching, nourishing, and good for nursing mothers.

• Sweet Rice: Relieves inflammation or irritation, used for diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion.

• Scallion Bulb: Cures cold diarrhea in the elderly.

• Sesame Seeds: Moistening to the intestines and treats rheumatism.

• Shepard’s Purse: Brightens the eyes and benefits the liver.

• Spinach: Harmonizing and moistening to the viscera, and a sedative.

• Taro Root: Nutritious, aides the stomach, and builds blood.

• Wheat: Cooling, used with fevers, clears digestive tract, calming and sedating due to wheat’s nourishing effect on the heart.

• Yogurt and Honey: Beneficial to the heart and lungs.