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Congee with Job's tears and brown rice

Rice porridge for breakfast, savoury or sweet.

Traditional use

Time
Preparation 5 min (plus overnight soaking), cooking 1 hour
Makes
4 people

Job's tears are both food and tonic: they drain dampness, relieve rheumatism and a full chest, soothe stomach ulcers and give energy. With brown rice it becomes a creamy porridge.

Ingredients

  • 200 g brown rice
  • 180 g Job's tears (yi yi ren)
  • 2 litres water
  • Savoury: salt and sesame oil, possibly spring onion
  • Sweet: sugar, honey or maple syrup

Step by step

  1. Wash the rice and Job's tears until the water runs clear.
  2. Soak everything overnight in the water, in a pan that is not aluminium.
  3. Bring to the boil and simmer covered for an hour until the porridge thickens.
  4. Put some salt and sesame oil or some sweetener in the bowls and ladle the hot congee over it.

Tips

  • Replace part of the rice with 4 tbsp wild rice (then 150 g brown rice).
  • With chicken stock instead of water it becomes richer; then soak it in the fridge.

Registry

Herbs in this recipe

Read more about effects and safety on each herb’s page.

  • Caution

    Asia · Food · № 645

    Job's tears (coix seed)

    Coix lacryma-jobi

    Traditionally attributed effects: nourishing grain that drives dampness from the body; for arthritis and rheumatism, diuretic, and to relieve a full chest and stomach ulcers.

    Chinese medical traditions+2

Cultures and traditions

Where the herbs come from

The herbs in this recipe also appear in these traditions.