Pumpkin, Red Date, and Millet Porridge

Why people make this porridge

Pumpkin is available year-round and punches well above its weight in nutritional value — it is rich in beta-carotene, multiple vitamins, minerals, and pectin. In traditional food therapy it is paired with red dates to make a porridge that is thought to nourish qi and blood, support eye health, and benefit the digestive system with regular use. Millet is the quintessential spleen-nourishing grain in Chinese food medicine — warm, easily digestible, and wonderfully soothing. Together, these three common ingredients make a porridge that is as comforting as it is healthful.

Method

1. Peel the pumpkin, remove seeds, and cut into bite-sized chunks.
2. Pit the red dates.
3. Rinse the white rice and millet.
4. Place all ingredients in a rice cooker. Add water at a 3–4:1 ratio to the combined volume of ingredients.
5. Press the porridge (congee) setting and cook until done.
6. Serve warm. May add a little brown sugar for a sweeter version.

Nourilo’s Tips

This porridge has a lovely natural fragrance — a small amount of brown sugar stirred in at the end makes it into a pleasant sweet porridge. Millet is excellent for the spleen and stomach, but it tends to produce a thin, watery porridge on its own — that is why a small amount of regular rice is added to give it body and creaminess. If you want to enhance the blood-nourishing quality further, stir in a spoonful of lotus root starch (ou fen) at the end.