TCM Perspective; Healing With Whole Foods: Congee

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Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by

Paul Pitchford

 

Congee

 

Traditionally known as hsi-fan or " rice water, " congee is eaten

throughout China as a breakfast food. It is a thin porridge or

gruel consisting of a handful of rice simmered in five to six times

the amount of water. Although rice is the most common grain for

congees, millet, spelt, or other grains are sometimes used. Cook

the rice and water in a covered pot four to six hours on warm, or

use the lowest flame possible; a crockpot works very well for

congees. It is better to use too much water than too little, and is

is said that the longer congee cooks, the more " powerful " it becomes.

 

Healing Properties: This simple rice soup is easily digested and

assimilated, tonifies the blood and the qi energy, harmonizes the

digestion, and is demulcent, cooling, and nourishing. Since the

chronically ill person often has weak blood and low energy, and

easily develops inflammations and other heat symptoms from

deficiency of yin fluids, the cooling demulcent and tonifying

properties of congee are particularly welcome; it is also useful for

increasing a nursing mother's supply of milk. The liquid can be

strained from the porridge to drink as a supplement for infants and

for serious conditions.

Other therapeutic properties may be added to the congee by cooking

appropriate vegetables, grains, herbs, or meats in with the rice

water. Since rice itself strengthens the spleen-pancreas digestive

center, other foods added to a rice congee become more completely

assimilated, and their properties are therefore enhanced. Listed

below are some of the more common rice-based congees and their

specific effects.*

 

Thirty-three common Congees:

 

Aduki Bean: Diuretic; curative for edema and gout

 

Apricot Kernel: Recommended for coughs and asthma, expels sputum and

intestinal gas

 

Carrot: Digestive aid, eliminates flatulence

 

Celery: Cooling in summer; benefits large intestine

 

Chestnut: Tonifies kidneys, strengthens knees and loin; useful in

treating anal hemorrhages

 

Water Chestnut: Cooling to viscera; benefits digestive organs

 

Chicken or Mutton Broth: Recommended for wasting illnesses and

injuries

 

Duck or Carp Broth: Reduces edema and swelling

 

Fennel: Harmonizes stomach, expels gas; cures hernia

 

Ginger: Warming and antiseptic to viscera; used for deficient cold

digestive weakness: diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, and indigestion.

 

Kidney from Pig, Sheep, or Deer: Strengtherns kidneys; benefits

knees and lower back; treats impotence (use organic kidney)

 

Leek: Warming to viscera; good for chronic diarrhea

 

Liver from Sheep or Chicken: Benefits diseases of the liver; very

powerful (use organic organ meats)

 

Mallow: Moistening for feverishness; aids digestion

 

Mung Bean: Cooling, especially for summer heat; reduces fevers;

thirst relieving

 

Mustard: Expels phlegm; clears stomach congestion

 

Salted Onion: Diaphoretic; lubricating to muscles

 

Black Pepper: Expels gas; recommended for pain in bowels

 

Red Pepper: Prevents malaria and cold conditions

 

Pine Nut Kernel: Moistening to heart and lungs; harmonizes large

intestine; useful in wind diseases and constipation

 

Poppy Seed: Relieves vomiting and benefits large intestine

 

Purslane: Detoxifies; recommended for rheumatism and swellings

 

Radish: Digestant; benefits the diaphragm

 

Pickled Radish (salt): Benefits digestion and blood

 

Brown Rice: Diuretic; thirst-quenching; nourishing; good for nursing

mothers

 

Sweet Rice: Demulcent; used for diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion

 

Scallion Bulb: Cures cold diarrhea in the aged

 

Sesame Seed: Moistening to intestines; treats rheumatism

 

Shepherd's Purse: Brightens the eyes and benefits the liver

 

Spinach: Harmonizing and moistening to viscera: sedative

 

Taro Root: Nutritious; aids the stomach; builds blood

 

Wheat: Cooling; used with fevers; clears digestive tract; also

calming and sedating due to wheat; nourishing effect on the heart

 

Yogurt and Honey: Beneficial to heart and lungs

 

*Adapted from Chinese Medicinal Herbs, translated and researched by

F. Porter Smith and G. A. Stuart; San Francisco;: Georgetown Press,

1973, p. 470.