Nourishing Porridge for the Elderly and Children (Photo Gallery)
The elderly and children are two vulnerable groups. How can you make porridge that is both healthy and nutritious for them? This feature introduces porridge recipes that are especially suitable for the elderly and children, listing the various benefits of each type.
4 Nutty Porridge Recipes Kids Love
Fresh Milk Eight-Treasure Porridge (Suitable for babies over 1 year old)
Ingredients: Lotus seeds, red beans, mung beans, Job's tears, dried longan, peanuts, glutinous rice, and raisins, in appropriate amounts.
Method:
1. Pour an appropriate amount of water into a pot. Bring to a boil, then add the lotus seeds, red beans, mung beans, Job's tears, peanuts, and glutinous rice. Bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat and simmer until soft and sticky.
2. Add the dried longan and raisins to the pot and cook for a short while. Pour in the fresh milk and bring to a boil.
Chestnut Porridge (Suitable for babies over 10 months old)
Ingredients: 1 small bowl of rice porridge, 3 chestnuts, a pinch of fine salt.
Method:
1. Peel the outer and inner skins of the chestnuts and mash them.
2. Cook the mashed chestnuts until done, then add them to the rice porridge. Stir well and continue cooking until very soft.
3. Add a pinch of fine salt, mix well, and it's ready to serve.
Walnut Cheese (Suitable for babies over 1 year old)
Ingredients: 15g walnuts, 150ml fresh milk, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2g agar powder.
Method:
1. Lightly crush the walnuts and roast them in the oven.
2. Heat the fresh milk over low heat. Add the walnuts, sugar, and agar powder, and mix well.
3. After cooling, refrigerate for 1 hour.
Cashew Shrimp (Suitable for children over 2 years old)
Ingredients: 200g shrimp, 50g cashews, 1000g oil (approx. 100g used), 30g egg, water starch, chopped green onions, sliced garlic, ginger, sesame oil, stock, cooking wine, vinegar, salt, MSG, as needed.
Method:
1. Wash the shrimp, peel them to get the shrimp meat, and remove the intestinal vein.
2. Separate the egg yolk from the white and beat the yolk until thick. Add salt, cooking wine, and starch, and mix well. Dip the shrimp in the egg mixture to coat evenly.
3. Heat oil in a wok and fry the cashews first. Remove them when they turn slightly yellow.
4. Deep-fry the shrimp in the hot oil for a moment, then remove and drain the oil.
5. Add a small amount of oil to the wok. Add green onions, garlic, ginger, cooking wine, vinegar, salt, MSG, and a little stock. Add the shrimp and cashews and stir-fry quickly. Finally, drizzle with a little sesame oil before serving.
Warm Reminder: Because nuts can easily cause allergies, it's best not to let babies eat too many.
Don't Add Sugar to Porridge for the Elderly
Throughout the year, the elderly enjoy drinking porridge to nourish their stomachs. Coupled with poor dental health and weak digestive functions, they believe porridge is easy to digest and often consume it. Some elderly people find porridge bland and are accustomed to adding sugar, which is actually unhealthy. Adding sugar can irritate the stomach lining, prolong the digestive process, and is not beneficial for gastrointestinal tolerance, potentially causing abnormal sugar metabolism.
If you find porridge bland, you can eat more vegetable porridge, but avoid overcooking it as this can destroy its nutritional value. You can also add a little meat, or small amounts of fruit, red dates, etc., to achieve a balanced diet. Additionally, you can simmer the porridge with ingredients like kudzu root, astragalus, Chinese yam, crucian carp, or sheep bone, which have nourishing, fluid-generating, and spleen-kidney warming effects for health preservation.
Some people say that for diabetics, drinking porridge is like drinking sugar water. In fact, drinking porridge doesn't have a major impact on diabetics. However, when choosing foods, diabetics should use the glycemic index as an important reference.
The glycemic index of foods varies depending on cooking methods and processing, but there is no evidence to suggest that porridge has a higher glycemic index than rice.
Elderly people who like porridge can choose to have it for dinner. Because older adults have slower metabolism and reduced gastrointestinal function, porridge is easier for the body to absorb. However, most elderly people experience frequent urination. Porridge empties from the stomach quickly, so it's not advisable to eat it before bed, as it can increase the frequency of urination and affect sleep.
Chestnut Porridge Can Nourish the Kidneys for Middle-Aged and Elderly People
Due to insufficient kidney qi, middle-aged and elderly people often experience lower back and leg pain. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that chestnuts have the effects of nourishing the kidneys and spleen, strengthening the body and bones, benefiting the stomach and calming the liver. It is primarily used for kidney deficiency, weak lower back and legs, and can tonify kidney qi. Thus, chestnuts are also known as the "fruit of the kidney." Eating chestnuts alone is not easily digested and absorbed. Porridge, as a traditional health food, has a good regulatory effect on the body. The key ingredient in porridge is japonica or glutinous rice, which has an excellent effect of strengthening and tonifying the spleen and nourishing the "postnatal" qi. It is not only easy to digest and absorb but also can nourish stomach qi. When white rice is boiled above 60°C, it undergoes gelatinization. Soft, well-cooked rice is easy to swallow, making it most suitable for people with weak gastrointestinal function. By using porridge to boost stomach qi, the effectiveness of chestnut porridge is significantly enhanced compared to using chestnuts alone.
For those with chronic lower back and leg pain, use 100g of japonica rice and 3-5 raw chestnuts to cook a porridge. After the porridge is cooked, add an appropriate amount of fine salt (because the salty flavor enters the kidney meridian, this can act as a "guide" for the medicinal properties, making the treatment more effective). Consume 1-2 times a day, and there will be noticeable improvement after one week.
Medicinal Porridge Suitable for the Elderly (Rehmannia Porridge, Siler Porridge, Perilla Porridge)
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the elderly are susceptible to external pathogens, which can cause old illnesses to relapse or trigger new ones. Therefore, preventing colds is the first priority. Regularly consuming these three types of porridge can have a health-preserving effect──
The ancient medical text "Qian Jin Fang" records: "In spring, it is advisable to eat porridge, with three recipes: First, Rehmannia porridge, to tonify deficiency. Take Rehmannia and pound it into juice. When the porridge is half-cooked, add the juice. Then wrap 50 grains of Sichuan pepper and a slice of ginger in a cloth and cook together with the porridge. When the porridge is done, remove the cloth. Add one cooked sheep kidney, cut into strips the size of chive leaves, and a little salt. Second, Siler porridge, to expel wind from the limbs. Take a large amount of Siler root, decoct it to make a soup, and cook the porridge with it. Third, Perilla porridge. Take perilla seeds, stir-fry until slightly yellow and fragrant, then decoct to make a porridge." (All three medicinal porridges are of warm nature and should not be consumed by those with febrile diseases.)
The common feature of these three porridges is that they resist wind, cold, and dampness, and clear heat from the blood. Rehmannia porridge can clear heat and cool the blood, treating constipation in the elderly caused by fluid deficiency. The Sichuan pepper and ginger in the porridge have the effect of warming the middle jiao to dispel cold, and restoring yang to unblock the pulse. Adding sheep kidney can tonify the kidneys and benefit the lungs. Siler porridge can induce sweat, expel wind, and resist dampness, treating body aches, headaches, and dizziness in the elderly. Perilla porridge can expel wind and cold, and has effects such as regulating qi, relieving the chest, resolving depression, and transforming phlegm.
Chinese Yam Soup
Formula: 50g Chinese yam, an appropriate amount of sugar.
Efficacy: Strengthens the spleen and secures the kidneys.
Usage: Take once daily.
Preparation: Cut the Chinese yam into small pieces, cook with water until tender. Add a little sugar and cook for a short moment.
Leek and Sheep Liver Porridge
Formula: 150g leeks, 200g sheep liver, 100g rice.
Efficacy: Nourishes liver blood, nourishes yin, and improves eyesight.
Usage: Eat as desired.
Preparation: Wash and chop the leeks. Cut the sheep liver into small pieces. Cook with rice to make porridge.
Carrot and Millet Porridge
Formula: 50g carrots, 50g millet.
Efficacy: Benefits the spleen, stimulates appetite, tonifies deficiency, and improves eyesight.
Usage: Once daily for 2 consecutive weeks.
Preparation: Wash the carrots and shred them. Cook with millet to make porridge.
Homemade Chrysanthemum Porridge
Reason: Goji berries have the effect of nourishing the liver and kidneys, and chrysanthemums can dispel wind, clear heat, and nourish the liver to improve eyesight.
Ingredients: Glutinous rice, goji berries, rock sugar, dried chrysanthemums.
Step 1: Soak the goji berries in boiling water for 10 minutes. Rub the chrysanthemums to remove stems and crush them slightly.
Step 2: Heat the glutinous rice in a microwave on high for 8 minutes to make a semi-finished porridge.
Step 3: Add the goji berries to the semi-finished porridge. Heat on medium for 5 minutes, then remove. Add the chrysanthemums to the porridge, heat on medium for 2 more minutes, then add the rock sugar and it's ready to eat.
Wood Ear Mushroom Porridge
Ingredients: 30g wood ear mushrooms, 2 liang (approx. 100g) japonica rice, 3-5 red dates.
Preparation: Soak the wood ear mushrooms for half a day. Then cook the porridge with japonica rice and red dates. After it comes to a boil, add the wood ear mushrooms and an appropriate amount of rock sugar, and cook until done.
Functions: Moistens the lungs and promotes fluid production, nourishes yin and benefits the stomach, tonifies qi and blood, and nourishes the brain and strengthens the heart. Suitable for middle-aged and elderly people with weak constitutions.
Mutton Porridge
Ingredients: 3-5 liang (approx. 150-250g) fresh lean mutton, an appropriate amount of japonica rice.
Preparation: Wash the mutton, cut into pieces, and cook with japonica rice to make porridge.
Functions: Benefits qi and blood, tonifies deficiency damage, warms the spleen and stomach. Suitable for those with insufficient yang qi and deficient blood.
Red Date Porridge
Take 50g red dates and 100g japonica rice, cook them together into a porridge. Serve warm for breakfast and dinner. Red dates have excellent nourishing properties and are very beneficial for children's growth and development. In particular, their mild nature can nourish blood and calm the mind, making them suitable for people with chronic illness and weak spleen and stomach function. (Those with internal heat or cavities should eat fewer red dates to avoid "heatiness".)
Goji Berry Porridge
Take 50g goji berries and 100g japonica rice, cook them into a porridge. Take as desired for breakfast and dinner. Goji berries are sweet and neutral in nature and are a key medicine for the liver and kidney meridians. They are a medicinal and edible item that nourishes the liver and kidneys. Eating goji berry porridge in spring can supplement liver and kidney deficiency, treat deficiency-induced impotence, and persistent cough (without an external pathogen). Additionally, goji berry porridge can lower blood sugar and cholesterol, protect the liver, and promote the regeneration of liver cells.
Mulberry and Goji Berry Porridge
Method: 50g mulberries, 10g goji berries. Bring water to a boil in a pot, add an appropriate amount of rice. Add the washed mulberries and goji berries to the pot. Cook on medium heat for about half an hour.
Job's Tears and Chinese Yam Porridge
Job's Tears 100g, Chinese yam 200g, rose petals 5g, red dates 20g, rock sugar as needed. Method: First, wash the Job's tears, red dates, and rose petals. Peel and dice the Chinese yam. Put the Job's tears into a pot of boiling water, cook on low heat for 30 minutes. Then add the red dates, rose petals, and Chinese yam. Simmer on low heat until the ingredients are tender. Add rock sugar to finish. This Job's tears and Chinese yam porridge is ready. Eat it in the morning. Job's tears and Chinese yam porridge has the effects of benefiting the kidneys, strengthening the spleen, expelling dampness, and resolving stasis. It is very effective for improving a sallow complexion and dark circles caused by kidney deficiency.