Healthy sweet congee

A classic Chinese breakfast, this sweet congee can be eaten warm or cold. It delivers a mix of rice, fungus and dried fruit and herbs – ingredients thought in Chinese traditional medicine to boost health and vitality.

• serves

  2-4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 pieces (120 g) dried white fungus (see Note)
• ¾ cup (50 g) dried red dates (see Note)
• ½ cup (50 g) goji berries (see Note)
• 2 ½ tbsp (30 g) raisins
• 1 tbsp (20 g) gingko nuts (see Note)
• 1 ¼ tbsp (20 g) jasmine rice
• 150 g rock sugar (see Note), roughly crushed

The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.

Soaking time 15 minutes

Instructions

Soak the dried white fungus into hot water for 10-15 minutes and drain, then tear it into several pieces. Remove any hard yellow areas.

Use warm water to wash the dried red dates and goji berries.

Add 3 litres of water to a large stainless steel saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the white fungus, red dates, goji berries, raisins, gingko nuts and rice. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until rice is very tender, and add the rock sugar to simmer for a further 5-6 minutes, or until the sugar has dissolved.

Place the congee into a bowl. Serve warm or cool.

Note

• Dried white fungus, dried red dates and gingko nuts are available at Chinese food stores. Goji berries are available at supermarkets and Asian food stores

Photography by Alan Benson

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.