We love hearing from parents around the world about how and when babies are introduced to solids in different cultures. So we enjoyed a message we received from Natalie, an Australian expat living with her Chinese husband and his family in Beijing.
She told us about congee – a rice dish that’s often served plain to babies in China as a first food.
Congee (also known as rice porridge) is simple to make and Natalie describes how…
For every cup of rice, we use 10 cups of water. Wash the rice before you start until the water runs clear, then put the grains in a pot with a heavy base. Pour in the water and heat until boiling. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook partly covered until the congee reaches the texture you want (around 2 hours). Stir occasionally.
Natalie told us that congee is more than just a baby food, though – there are a great deal of congee variations which use all sorts of extra ingredients (including veggies, meats and fish) and are enjoyed all over China by adults.
We read some more about congee and found that it is sometimes made using stock instead of water (sounds like a good idea, as we’re certain our little ones would have found plain congee a little bland!). It can also be made with brown rice, which would be more nutritious – although we guess the cooking time would need to be extended to some degree.
Interestingly, other grains – such as oats, barley or millet – are sometimes used instead of rice.
Thanks, Natalie, for telling us about congee – perhaps you will inspire some of us western mums to try it and introduce our baby food connoisseurs to a little taste of China!
And if YOU’VE used congee as a baby food, we’d love to hear your comments! We’d be particularly interested in hearing about your results in making congee with the nutritious grains mentioned above!
Preethi Nair
Sunday 2nd of July 2017
The first food for my baby was congee only. But we don't boil for 2 hours as mentioned above. I would take 1 Table spoon rice and put 3/4th cup water and boil for 15 minutes and in between I mash the rice with the masher so it comes to nice texture. I use to serve this initially with water in which pulses are bolied and a little salt to it. Once my baby was used to this I started adding direct mashed pulses into the rice. Now I try adding milk and little sweet to make it a pudding. this tastes great with brown rice. Youc an also add mashed carrot or spinach , sweet potato e.t.c. I also tried tossing the same with half garlic clove, butter and salt. My baby liked it.
Christine
Friday 30th of June 2017
Thanks so much, alohamolly - is the cooking time very much different for brown rice congee than it is for white?
alohamolly
Thursday 29th of June 2017
Hi..I am a big fan of your site. I am from Malaysia and congee is a very common first solid food for Malaysian be it Malays, Chinese or Indians in Malaysia(we are a multi-racial country).
For me, I have been cooking congee with brown rice mixing with millet and quinoa after reading the goodness of the two grains on your site.
Plus I also add some vegetables according to the four-day rule as I progress along starting with sweet potatoes, next carrot, potatoes and in fact I tried with beet roots plus apples as well as I was told it is very good for babies.
For extra iron and calcium I add organic kelps and the congee is often eaten by babies and adults alike in my family.