flipLongevity congee with goji berries and fragrant mushrooms
Longevity congee with goji berries and fragrant mushrooms
Why this dish? After defying Heaven, Sun Wukong was imprisoned for five hundred years under the Five Elements Mountain. At the moment of his release, a warm, strengthening porridge like this one would have set his old bones right—and revived his famous 'fiery golden eyes' (huǒyǎn jīnjīng).
Millet and rice slowly simmered until silky, enriched with red goji berries, Chinese dates and fragrant mushrooms. Gentle, comforting, reputed to be fortifying: the convalescent's bowl.
Five hundred years, mortal! That's how long I spent crushed under the Five Elements Mountain, without a warm bowl to comfort me. When they freed me, it's a porridge like this that I would have needed: millet and rice left to melt for a long, long time, with red goji berries and fragrant mushrooms. It warms old bones and sharpens the eye—and believe me, after five centuries, old Monkey badly needed to regain his golden eye!
- •Millet and rice — a measure of each (grain base of the porridge)
- •Goji berries (gǒuqǐ) — a handful (sweetness and fortifying virtue)
- •Red dates (jujubes, dàzǎo) — a few (natural sugar, comfort)
- •Dried fragrant mushrooms (shiitake) — a few (umami)
- •Ginger — a slice (warmth)
- •Spring water — in abundance (slow cooking)
Longevity congee with goji berries and fragrant mushrooms
Millet and rice slowly simmered until silky, enriched with red goji berries, Chinese dates and fragrant mushrooms. Gentle, comforting, reputed to be fortifying: the convalescent's bowl.
Why this dish? After defying Heaven, Sun Wukong was imprisoned for five hundred years under the Five Elements Mountain. At the moment of his release, a warm, strengthening porridge like this one would have set his old bones right—and revived his famous 'fiery golden eyes' (huǒyǎn jīnjīng).
Five hundred years, mortal! That's how long I spent crushed under the Five Elements Mountain, without a warm bowl to comfort me. When they freed me, it's a porridge like this that I would have needed: millet and rice left to melt for a long, long time, with red goji berries and fragrant mushrooms. It warms old bones and sharpens the eye—and believe me, after five centuries, old Monkey badly needed to regain his golden eye!
Ingredients (period version)
- Millet and rice — a measure of each (grain base of the porridge)
- Goji berries (gǒuqǐ) — a handful (sweetness and fortifying virtue)
- Red dates (jujubes, dàzǎo) — a few (natural sugar, comfort)
- Dried fragrant mushrooms (shiitake) — a few (umami)
- Ginger — a slice (warmth)
- Spring water — in abundance (slow cooking)
Ingredients
- Rice — 50 g (binder of the porridge)
- Millet — 50 g (restorative grain)
- Goji berries — 30 g (sweet garnish)
- Dried jujubes (Chinese dates) — 4-5 (sweetness)
- Dried shiitake (rehydrated) — 3 (umami)
- Fresh ginger — 2 slices (warm aromatic)
- Water — 1.2 to 1.5 L (cooking)
- Salt or a little honey — to taste (final adjustment)
Method
- Rinse the rice and millet. Rehydrate the shiitake in a little warm water, then slice (keep the soaking water).
- In a large pot, combine rice, millet, water, mushroom soaking water, shiitake, pitted jujubes and ginger.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer over very low heat for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally, until creamy.
- Add the goji berries in the last 5 minutes (they become just tender).
- Adjust with a pinch of salt or a drizzle of honey depending on whether you want it savory-sweet or sweet. Serve very hot.
How it was made : Zhōu (congee) has for centuries been the food of the sick, elderly and convalescent in China—easy to digest, enriched as needed. Goji and jujubes appear in Chinese pharmacopoeia as tonics; Li Shizhen describes them in his Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica, 1578), from the very period when Journey to the West was written.
The contemporary twist : Serve in a dark bowl and arrange two bright red goji berries on the surface: the 'fiery golden eyes' of the Monkey King watching over lunch.
Sources : Li Shizhen, Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), 1578 — entries on goji (gǒuqǐ) and jujube
Sun Wukong · Charactorium
