Laba Congee/porridge （腊八粥 Laba Zhou)
Commemorate Bodhi Day with traditional Chinese Laba Porridge. I always serve this to my family around December 8th on the Lunar calendar.
- Prep time
- 6 hr
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1/3 cup of sweet rice
- 1/3 cup of black rice
- 1/4 cup of pearl barley
- 1/3 cup of red beans
- 1/4 cup of black beans
- 1/4 cup dried lotus seeds
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 3 dried jujube
- 1 medium sized rock candy or 1 tablespoon of sugar (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Gather all the ingredients. Soak the grains and beans in water. For super tough beans (like red beans and black beans), soak for at least 6 hours. The rest can soak for 3 hours. There's no need to soak raisins and dried jujube.
- 2
Drain the beans and grains. Place everything except the raisins into the rice cooker and fill the water to the 1.5 cup mark for porridge. (See notes for non-rice cooker instructions)
- 3
Close the rice cooker lid and press the "porridge" button. For 1.5 cup porridge ingredients, it takes approximately 1 hour to complete the cooking process in my rice cooker.
- 4
When the rice cooker completes cooking, open the lid and add the raisins, stirring to combine. Add sugar if you prefer a sweeter version. The Laba congee/porridge is best served when it is warm.