Description:
This is actually a traditional Chinese herbal food eaten to improve health and this recipe will actually make a pretty big pot. It can be served hot or cold. Enjoy.
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 1 ~ 1.5 hrs
Ingredients:
2 cups mixed wild rice
1/4 cup long grain sweet rice
1/4 cup barley
1/8 cup red beans
1/4 cup dried lotus seeds
1/8 cup mung beans
1/8 cup dried longan
1 cup of sugar
*Starch water*
Instructions:
- Wash all the ingredients (except dried longan)
- Soak all the ingredients (except mung beans, sweet rice, and dried longan) in twice as much water overnight. Keep in the refrigerator. For the first time, you may want to soak them separate so that you can add the ingredients one by one.
- Next day, boil the soaked ingredients in medium heat for one hour. You may want to start with the lotus seeds because they are harder and may take a little longer to cook. And then add the red beans, then the wild rice.
- When the red beans are almost ready, add the mung beans and sweet rice. Continue to boil for another 15 mins, until mung beans and sweet rice are ready.
- If the congee is not thick enough, you can add some starch water.
- Stir in the dried longan.
- Pour the sugar over the surface of the congee and close the lid. Let it sit for another 10 mins or so. This will allow the ingredients to absorb the sugar.
- Serve it hot or you can leave it in the refrigerator over night and serve it cold.
Suggestions:
As far as ingredients, you are free to change it up. If you like a certain ingredient more, you can add more, if not, don't add it.
The cook time for different types of beans, seeds etc in this recipes may vary depending on the brands. What you will have to do is test cook all the ingredients (may be a few of each) and boil them to see which ones get soft first, so that next time you will know the order to add the ingredients to the congee.
These are dried lotus seeds. When you buy them from the store, check in between the two halves to make sure that it doesn't contain the germ in the middle (it's greenish in color). It is very bitter.
These are dried longan.
