Introduction: Congee is a common sight on the Chinese dining table. No matter what the staple food is, having a sip of hot congee first makes one feel warm and comfortable all over. Professor Ma Guansheng of the School of Public Health at Peking University and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society points out that the simple congee contains quite a bit of "great knowledge" about nutrition and health.
Chinese people love to drink congee and know how to drink it, thus forming a unique "congee culture." The earliest written records of congee can be found in the Book of Zhou, which states that the Yellow Emperor first cooked grain into congee. In the medieval period, the function of congee further integrated "edible" and "medicinal" uses, reaching a level of "health preservation" with cultural significance.
Although among the many cooking techniques, making congee can be considered the simplest. Just grab a handful of rice and throw it into the water; boil it for a short time to get thin congee, or boil it longer for thick congee. Not only can it be made from rice, millet, black rice, purple rice, etc., but you can also add various ingredients like fruits, century eggs, lean meat, beans, etc., to cook a wide variety of congee! Although the method is simple, don't underestimate this simple congee, as it contains a great deal of "knowledge" about nutrition and health.
First, congee is mostly made from grains, flours, and coarse cereals, which complies with the principle of "grain-based, with a mix of coarse and fine grains" in the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents." When making congee, coarse cereals such as millet, sorghum, corn, buckwheat, oats, Job's tears, red beans, and mung beans can be cooked together in "one pot," making the "mix of coarse and fine grains" easily achievable. By drinking congee, the goal of consuming 1-2 liang (50-100 grams) of coarse grains daily can be easily met!
Second, congee is highly versatile. If you want something "savory," you can add chicken, duck, fish, meat, eggs, or milk. If you prefer something light, you can add vegetables or fruits. If you want to be "extravagant," you can add sea cucumbers, abalone, and other delicacies. If you want something "common," you can add sweet potatoes, Chinese yams, or potatoes. You can also combine them in any way to easily achieve dietary diversity.
Third, the coarse cereals used to make congee are generally not finely processed. Vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients and dietary fiber in the outer layer of the grains are fully preserved, avoiding the loss of nutrients. On one hand, this can prevent the deficiency of micronutrients; on the other hand, it can reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Chestnut Congee
Classification and Nutritional Characteristics of Congee
The most basic ingredient for making congee is grain. If a "congee" does not contain grain, it should not be called congee. In terms of composition, we can classify congee into basic congee, meat congee, and vegetarian congee. Use your limitless imagination to add different ingredients to the "basic congee" to create various flavors and a wide variety of congee.
1. Basic congee includes single-grain congee and mixed-grain congee:
(1) Single-grain congee: Directly cooked with water using a single grain like rice, millet, red beans, or mung beans, such as rice congee, millet congee, or red bean congee. You can also use wheat, corn, etc., ground into flour or particles of different sizes to make congee, such as cornmeal congee, wheat kernel congee, corn grit congee, or bean congee.
(2) Mixed-grain congee: Different grains are cooked together, with as few as 2-3 types or as many as 5-6 types, or even over 10 types. Millet and mung bean congee, eight-treasure congee, Laba congee, and mixed-grain congee all fall into this category.
Nutritional characteristics: Grain-based, rich in dietary fiber and minerals, promotes gastrointestinal motility, suitable for all ages. For those with high blood sugar, choices can be made based on the food's glycemic index.
Fresh Shrimp and Seafood Congee
2. Meat congee: According to your preference, add meat, eggs, etc., to the basic congee to create various flavors.
(1) With meat: Add beef, lamb, pork, etc., such as century egg and lean pork congee, or shredded meat congee.
(2) With offal: Such as liver, etc., such as white fruit and lamb kidney congee.
(3) Seafood congee: Add aquatic products, such as fish, shrimp, crab, etc., such as fish fillet congee or fresh shrimp congee.
Nutritional characteristics: Diverse in ingredients, more comprehensive nutrition than basic congee, but this type of congee often contains salt, and animal offal has higher cholesterol. Suitable for most people, but not recommended for those with high blood pressure or high blood lipids to drink frequently. When making your own congee, use less salt.
3. Vegetable and fruit congee: Add single or mixed vegetables and fruits to the basic congee.
(1) With vegetables: Such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes, Chinese yams, etc., such as red bean and pumpkin congee, or celery and tofu congee.
(2) With fruits: Such as mango and purple rice congee.
(3) Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) congee: Add ingredients that are both food and medicine, such as angelica, lotus seeds, Euryale ferox seeds, goji berries, etc., such as lotus seed and Euryale ferox seed congee.
(4) Other congee: Add flowers to make flower congee, such as chrysanthemum congee.
Nutritional characteristics: Light and refreshing, rich in dietary fiber, promotes gastrointestinal motility. Congee with high sugar content is not suitable for people with high blood sugar. Additionally, TCM congee should be chosen based on individual constitution and is not recommended for long-term consumption.
One more point to remind everyone is that when drinking congee, many people often eat pickles as a companion, which increases salt intake and the risk of high blood pressure. From a health perspective, eat less or no pickles! You can pair it with cold salads.
Fresh Shrimp and Lean Pork Congee