Ingredients: Millet, corn, pumpkin, red dates.
Preparation: Soak millet for 20 minutes beforehand (cooking millet porridge with water just before boiling yields a thick, fragrant consistency). Boil millet over high heat for 15-20 minutes, then add corn and red dates (adding red dates earlier intensifies their flavor,making them sweet and fragrant). Simmer for another 5 minutes, then reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. Add pumpkin and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Stir in goji berries, bring to a boil over medium-high heat for a few minutes, then turn off the heat.
Benefits: Consuming millet, corn, pumpkin, and red dates as porridgeMillet is a nourishing tonic suitable for the elderly, the infirm, and postpartum women, demonstrating its exceptional ability to replenish deficiencies. Corn harmonizes the spleen and stomach, pumpkin fortifies the middle energizer and boosts qi, while red dates nourish blood and qi, harmonizing the five organs. These yellow foods each possess distinct nourishing properties, all targeting the spleen and stomach. Prepared as porridge—the most spleen- and stomach-friendly form—none are medicinal, yet combined they form the ultimate spleen and stomach tonic.
Chestnut Porridge
Ingredients: 300g Chinese yam, 100g cooked chestnuts, 40g rice, 60g glutinous rice, 10g goji berries, 7 red dates.
Preparation: Peel the Chinese yam, wash the red dates, and shell the chestnuts;Cut the yam into evenly sized chunks. Add water to a pot, rinse the rice and glutinous rice thoroughly, then add them to the pot. Add the yam and red dates. After boiling for 40 minutes, add the chestnuts and goji berries and simmer for another 10 minutes until cooked. Benefits: This porridge strengthens the spleen and nourishes the kidneys.