Congee is a nutritive rice preparation spanning cultures & continents. It’s always revered as a convalescent food to be relied upon during acute ailments & leaned on in times of perceived immune threat—like cold season & the changes of all seasons. It is warming, grounding & easy on the digestion. It’s often eaten in the morning & will often feature sweet & warming fruits & cinnamon. I followed Dad’s Authentic Congee to be sure that the texture is authentic, if the ingredients are skewed more toward the herbalist’s path. It’s conventional in all the right ways!

This recipe is savory. We can eat it in the morning, but it would fit more typically in the lunch or dinner categories.

That essential broth part of congee is where herbal medicine can really shine! And here, I incorporate the usual suspects of ginger, garlic & pepper…but I got to include juniper berries, fresh turmeric, burdock & dandelion roots as well.

The Broth

8 cups water

1 cup jasmine rice

2 large fingers of ginger

2 fingers of fresh turmeric

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1/2 onion (sliced & diced)

1 serrano pepper (sliced & diced small)

1/2 jalapeño pepper (sliced & diced small)

The herbs below all go in a tea ball or teabag to be removed from the broth.

1 tbsp crushed juniper berries

2 tbsp burdock root (chunks)

2 tbsp dandelion root (chunks)

The Mushrooms

6-8 oz oyster

6-8 oz shitake

6-8 oz portobello

1 tbsp miso paste

1/4 cup peanut sauce

2 tsp tamari sauce

2 tbsp corn starch

Toppings

Cilantro

Jalapeno

pumpkin seeds

pistachios

toasted black sesame seeds

Preparation

Soak the rice overnight or for an hour at least. Rinse it in running water using your hands to remove debris and excess starch. Do this 3 x and the water should run pretty clear.

Boil 8 cups of water then throw your cup of rinsed rice in there stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Put the burdock, dandelion root and juniper berries (crushed) in a tea bag or ball and let it steep in the water with the rice. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

Slice your mushrooms and Sun soak your mushrooms— can be outside or just in a sunny window.

Start cutting all your mushrooms and veggies. I slice everything pretty thin.

Put your veggies in the rice pot. Your rice should be getting close to done by now. Add water, if needed, to get to the soupy-ness you like.

Stir up your miso, peanut sauce and cornstarch in a mixing bowl until smooth. You’ll toss your mushrooms in the mixture until coated after they’ve sat in the sun.

Remove the tea bag of roots and berries.

Simply toss in the mushrooms and let cook in the rice broth for 2 minutes.

Pour in a bowl and top with your herbs seeds and nuts.

Enjoy!