-
Laba congee
emointhekitchen So, on December 30, 2022, the days fly by so, fast and in the blink of an eye, Laba Festival is here again. Porridge is indispensable, it adds all kinds of beans and rice to the boil, which is fragrant! Laba Festival, commonly known as “Laba”, is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The ancients had a tradition of offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods and praying for a good harvest. In some areas, there was a custom of drinking Laba porridge. According to legend, this day is also the day when the Buddha Sakyamuni became enlightened. It is called the “Dharma Treasure Festival” and is one…
-
Wheat Congee
emointhekitchen While rice is the cornerstone of diet in the East. In the West, wheat grains are considered the staff of life. However, by this, we typically mean wheat bread and other baked products. Overconsumption is at least partly responsible for western obesity epidemy. Compared to rice, wheat is more difficult to digest. Negative aspects of wheat are more obvious when eaten as refined flour. We should therefore only consume it in the form of whole grains. However, a person with weak spleen function and a tendency to dampness should avoid even that. Wheat in TCM Of course, even wheat has its use in Chinese medicine and has its own…
-
Congee – Health, Comfort & Simplicity
emointhekitchen All over Asia, rice is not just a foodstuff but it has also its fixed place in religious symbolism and rituals, festivals, weddings etc. Rice is perceived as a gift of the gods and a meal without rice is not considered a full meal. Rice is not considered to be just an ingredient or a side dish. There are various one-dish meals of rice soup or porridge cooked with plenty of water or broth (roughly 6 cups of water per 1 cup of rice), called congee. Congee or in mandarin zhōu (jook in Cantonese) is proof that some of the best-tasting things in life are at the same time the…