healing foods

[Guest guest]

While discussing this Re: Diet with no dairy, no wheat, no sugar and

no hormonal meat ... perhaps we could discuss " healing foods?:

 

Congee (Rice Porridge) for Breakfast

Recipe: Rice Congee with Pork (Kao Dtom Moo)

 

A Steaming Bowl of Rice Congee Revitalizes the Body at Breakfast and During

Times of Illness

Students frequently ask me what foods are typically consumed for breakfast in

the Orient. Unlike here, where there are specific foods identified with the

morning meal, the distinction between what is eaten at breakfast, lunch or

dinner is not as clear.

 

Often, breakfast is a mini-version of lunch or dinner, and among farmers and

laborers, it is just as substantial as any other meal of the day. When I was

growing up, leftovers from the evening before plus one or two simple, newly

cooked dishes served with rice made a satisfying morning meal before the family

headed off for school and office.

 

Breakfast may also be any of a wide range of noodle soups, stir-fried noodles,

curry over rice, fried rice and other savory one-dish concoctions. On the

cultural tours I lead to Thailand every winter, I delight in the endless choices

available for breakfast at fast-food rice and noodle shops that do a bustling

business in the early light of the morning. One of my favorite breakfasts is

spicy basil chicken over rice topped with a crisped fried egg. The same makes

just as gratifying a one-dish lunch.

 

But if I had to name just one food most closely associated with breakfast, the

most likely candidate would probably be rice congee. The soupy rice mixture is

made either plain and served with a variety of salty, pickled and stir-fried

dishes; or chicken, pork, fish or shrimp can be cooked in with the soup and

flavored with garlic, ginger, scallions and cilantro.

 

To make congee, rice is boiled in lots of water or broth until the grains have

grown many times their size and are still swimming in excess fluid. The grains

may also be cooked down until they completely disintegrate and become the

texture of creamy rice cereal. Made either way, congee is very nutritious and

highly recommended for people suffering from fatigue, digestive problems and

illness. It is easy to digest and contains nutrients in ready form to be

absorbed and used, thereby enabling quick revitalization of the body. What

better way to " break " the " fast " of the night and begin a new day of productive

activity than to partake of a vitalizing bowl of steaming rice soup!

 

A recipe for pork rice congee follows. The rice can be cooked either by boiling

directly in the pork broth; or separately, as the recipe instructs, adding the

broth to it just before serving. The latter makes a lighter and clearer soup.

Rice cooked directly in the broth will thicken the soup and eventually congeal

into a dense mass. But if the texture of creamy rice cereal is what you are

after, then boil the rice in the broth.

 

Frequently, leftover rice is used to make congee, but the resulting soup will

not be as tasty, because the starch in previously cooked rice has hardened and

will not flavor the soup as well. In the recipe, the separately cooked rice is

boiled with sufficient water to break down the starch in the grains, so that

when added to the hot broth, the flavor of the rice melts into it, the

soft-textured grains blending in with the soup.

 

Instead of pork, you may also use chicken or seafood such as fish and shrimp.

Try a version with turkey – make the soup stock with the carcass from your

Thanksgiving bird, adding shredded pieces of leftover turkey to warm through

before serving.

 

If you are accustomed to having toast and coffee for breakfast and cannot bare

to face a piece of fish, pork or turkey for breakfast, serve the congee for

lunch, dinner or late-night snack on those cold evenings when a steaming bowl of

soup is comforting. But because congee digests easily, containing only a very

small amount of rice compared to a serving of regularly cooked rice, serve

yourself a large bowl, or go for seconds and thirds.

 

 

more ... recipes ...

 

http://tinyurl.com/ctpta

 

Congee is so easily digested and assimilated, it is used for " healing " in Asian

countries ... Paul Pitchford has " 33 Common Congees " in his " Healing With Whole

Foods " book ... depending on what organs or elements/properties need to be

healed/balanced, therapeutic additions to the basic congee are made, e.g., aduki

beans, ginger, purslane, radish, burdock ...

 

 

The Benefits of Congee (Rice Water)

 

By Julie Silver, Dipl. Ac.

 

http://tinyurl.com/9zlur

 

 

Traditionally known as hsi-fan or " rice water " , Congee has a myriad of healing

properties. It is both easily digested and absorbed and consists of an

uncomplicated rice soup. Congee tonifies the qi (pronounced " chee " and without a

better discription it is the " life force " or " life energy " ) and the blood (blood

is thought of a bit differently and may be considered as solidified qi or the

transport vessel of qi). Congee harmonizes digestion, and also acts as a

" cooling " agent when there is heat and inflammation in the body. With the aid of

a nursing mother supply of milk may be increased. Although rice is the most

common grain for congee, a variety of additional vegetables, grains, and herbs

can be added to enhance the therapeutic properties. Brown rice: diuretic,

thirst-quenching, nourishing, good for nursing mothers

 

Sweet rice: Used for diarrhea, vomiting, and indigestion

 

Wheat: cooling, used for fevers, clears digestive tract, calming and

sedating.:

 

Ginger

 

: warming and antiseptic to the organs, used for cold digestive weakness,

diarrhea, anorexia, vomiting, and indigestion.:

 

To make congee

 

, take one cup of rice and simmer it in 5-6 times the amount of water. Cook for

several hours using the lowest heat possible. A crock-pot works great. In making

congee it is better to use too much water than too little. In Chinese medicine

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

 

 

 

Healing with Food, Kitchen Remedies Congee

 

 

 

Congee (Rice Porridge) — by Rebecca Wood

 

 

Accompanying article:

Lupus Diet

 

 

Serves 2

 

Here's a recipe that's excellent for just about whatever ails you. Rice

porridge, congee, jook . . . all of these are names for a long-simmered soup

that is a perennial Asian dish. Gruel is a more apt translation, but please

don't let that put you off! If soup sounds more appetizing, use more liquid and

call it soup.

 

Congee is a strengthening porridge often concocted to support a specific health

issue. According to Chinese medicine, simmering this soup for three hours

balances the yin and yang of each ingredient, making it highly medicinal and

easy to assimilate.

 

Congee is easy to make in a crock pot. Put up the soup before going to bed and

awaken to this satisfying porridge. (You can put it up before going to work and

the soup will be ready when you come home, or carry the ingredients to work and

put them in the office crock pot for a hot lunch.)

 

¼ cup rice (or barley, wild rice or whole oats)

4 cups water or stock (add more for thinner consistency or longer cooking

time)

1 2-inch piece kombu seaweed (optional)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon minced ginger

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon cumin

1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast (or cubed tofu)

2 scallions, chopped

 

Place rice, water, kombu, bay leaf, ginger, salt and cumin in a 3-quart soup pot

or crock pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to very slow simmer and cook for

at least 3 hours or up to 8 hours, stirring occasionally. Add additional water

if necessary. Prior to serving add the chicken and scallions and cook for 5

minutes, or until the chicken is warmed through. Season to taste.

 

May you be well nourished.

 

 

http://tinyurl.com/7onh2