Eight Treasures Congee (八宝粥)

This is a Chinese recipe that uses eight really healthy ingredients for brewing into a really healthy congee dish. It is supposedly a dish served during the cold months of winter as it keeps the body and mind warm. However, I must admit one has to be somebody who loves his grains and nuts to be able to like this dish as the rice and beans can make this dish slightly on the denser and starchier side, with loads of nuts to chew on as well.

Ingredients:

  • Peanut: 1 tbsp
  • Barley: 1 tbsp
  • Red bean: 1 tbsp
  • Brown rice: 2 tbsp
  • Glutinous rice: 1/2 cup
  • Gingko nut: 1 tbsp (pre-cooked in can)
  • Goji berry: 1 tbsp
  • Dried red date: 8
  • Dried longan: 10
  • Water: 6 cups
  • Rock sugar: 1 cup

Method:

  1. Pre-soak peanuts, barley, red beans, brown rice and glutinous rice overnight.
  2. Place pre-soaked ingredients into slow cooker.
  3. Add in gingko nuts, goji berries, red dates, longans and water.
  4. Slow cook on high mode for 3 to 4 hours.
  5. Stir in rock sugar before serving.

Tricks:

  • An alternative mode of cooking is to use the pressure cooker and cook on bean mode for 30min. This was what was recommended in the original recipe, but I decided I preferred the slow cooking method much more to make sure the beans and grains are soft.

  • You can also turn this into a savoury dish by removing all the sweet ingredients (longan, rock sugar, red date) and adding in 1 to 2 chicken stock cubes instead.

Serving:
4 persons

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