China · Home-style

Laba Congee

Name: Laba Congee
Prep time: 660 min
Cook time: 153 min
Total time: 813 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Home-style
Ingredients: rice 50 g; glutinous rice 50 g; Job’s tears 50 g; black rice 50 g; millet 50 g; lotus seeds 25 g; mung beans 25 g; red beans 25 g; peanuts 25 g; soybeans 25 g; peas 25 g; red dates 25 g; longan 25 g; chestnuts 25 g; shelled walnuts 25 g; raisins 25 g; kidney beans 25 g; rock sugar 5 g

The festival porridge of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, made from seventeen grains, beans and dried fruit simmered for hours.

813 minutes · 4 servings · Moderate

Laba is observed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the porridge was originally made from what was left in the store after the harvest was in, which is why so many grains go into it. Different families keep their own list, and some add salt or alkaline to give it the smooth, almost slippery texture of the northern version. It is cooked for so long that the grains collapse into one another, and it is normally started the night before because nobody wants to be awake at dawn.

Ingredients

rice50 g
glutinous rice50 g
Job’s tears50 g
black rice50 g
millet50 g
lotus seeds25 g
mung beans25 g
red beans25 g
peanuts25 g
soybeans25 g
peas25 g
red dates25 g
longan25 g
chestnuts25 g
shelled walnuts25 g
raisins25 g
kidney beans25 g
rock sugar5 g

Directions

1
Wash the mung beans, red beans, peanuts, soybeans, peas and kidney beans in advance and put them in a clean glass bowl with three-quarters of a bowl of drinking water to soak overnight, or for at least eight hours.
2
Wash the rice, glutinous rice, Job’s tears, black rice, millet and lotus seeds in advance and put them in a clean glass bowl with three-quarters of a bowl of drinking water to soak for three hours.
3
Pour off the water from the bowl of beans, tip all the ingredients into the porridge pot, add one litre of drinking water, or enough to come a thumb-width above the ingredients, bring to the boil over high heat, cover and simmer over low heat for thirty minutes.
4
Pour off the water from the bowl of grains, tip those ingredients into the same pot, cover and simmer over low heat for sixty minutes.
5
Wash the red dates, longan, chestnuts, walnuts and raisins, cutting the red dates into small pieces, add them along with the rock sugar, cover and simmer over low heat for sixty minutes.
6
Once the porridge is thick, turn off the heat, ladle it out and serve.

Source: HowToCook · WorldBite adaptation · Unlicense source text; bilingual recipe adapted by WorldBite.