Laba porridge is also called "Qibao porridge" and "five-flavor porridge". The earliest Laba porridge was cooked with red beans. Later, it evolved and became more colorful with local characteristics. Zhou Mi, a literati in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote "Old Wulin Stories" and said: "Porridge made from walnuts, pine nuts, butternut squash, persimmons, chestnuts, etc. is called Laba porridge." Fucha Dunchong, a Qing Dynasty man, said in "Yanjing Years' Records" that " For Laba porridge, yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnuts, chestnuts, peeled jujube paste, etc. are cooked with water, and externally dyed with red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar, and soybean paste. Grapes are used for dyeing, which is quite characteristic of the capital city. People in Tianjin cook Laba porridge similar to those in Beijing. Those who are more particular may add lotus seeds, lilies, pearl rice, Italian rice, barley kernels, sticky rice, sticky yellow rice, cloud beans, mung beans, longan meat, longan meat, ginkgo, and red dates. And sweet-scented osmanthus in sugar water, etc., all have good color, aroma and taste. In recent years, black rice has also been added. This kind of Laba porridge can be used as a dietary therapy. It has the functions of strengthening the spleen, appetizing, replenishing qi, calming the nerves, clearing the heart, and nourishing the blood. Shanxi's Laba porridge, also known as eight-treasure porridge, is mainly made of millet, with cowpeas, adzuki beans, mung beans, dates, and sticky yellow rice, rice, glutinous rice, etc. cooked in it. In the southeastern Shanxi region, on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, adzuki beans, red beans, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, peanuts, glutinous rice, persimmons, and water are used to cook porridge, also called sweet rice, which is also one of the food customs. Northern Shaanxi Plateau On Laba Day, in addition to using a variety of rice and beans, various dried fruits, tofu and meat must be added to make porridge. It is usually cooked in the morning and can be either sweet or salty, depending on one's taste. If it is eaten at lunch, some noodles should be cooked in the porridge and the whole family can have a meal together. After eating, the porridge should be smeared on the door, the stove and the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters and welcome a bumper agricultural harvest in the coming year. According to folklore, it is forbidden to eat vegetables on Laba day, as there will be many weeds in the crops. People in southern Shaanxi eat mixed porridge during Laba, which is divided into two types: "five flavors" and "eight flavors". The former is cooked with rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, ginkgo nuts and beans. The latter uses the above five raw materials plus diced meat, tofu, radish, and condiments. On Laba day, in addition to eating Laba porridge, people also use porridge to worship ancestors and granaries. Gansu people traditionally cook Laba porridge with grains and vegetables. After cooking, it is not only eaten by family members, but also distributed to neighbors and used to feed livestock. In Lanzhou and Baiyin City areas, Laba porridge is cooked very carefully, using rice, beans, red dates, ginkgo, lotus seeds, raisins, dried apricots, dried melons, walnut kernels, green and red shreds, white sugar, diced meat, etc. After cooking, it is first used to worship the door god, kitchen god, earth god, and wealth god, and pray for good weather and abundant harvests in the coming year; then it is distributed to relatives and neighbors, and finally the whole family enjoys it. In the Wuwei area of ??Gansu Province, people pay attention to "vegetarian Laba". They eat rice thick rice, lentil rice or thick rice. After cooking, they eat it with fried dumplings and twists. The folk custom calls it "lentil porridge soaked powder". Ningxia people generally use lentils, soybeans, red beans, broad beans, black beans, rice, and potatoes to make porridge, plus wheat or buckwheat noodles cut into rhombus-shaped willow leaves, or made into small round eggs. For the "queer head", add green onion oil before taking it out of the pan. On this day, the whole family only eats Laba rice and no vegetables. Although the majority of Xining people in Qinghai are Han, they do not eat porridge in Laba, but wheat kernel rice. Boil the newly ground wheat kernels with beef and mutton, add green salt, ginger peel, pepper, grass fruit, Miaoxiang and other seasonings. Simmer over a slow fire overnight until the meat and wheat blend into a chylo-like shape. Uncover the pot in the morning. The aroma is fragrant and delicious to eat. In the "Confucius Food System" in Shandong, it is stipulated that "Laba porridge" can be divided into two types. One is made from Italian rice kernels, longan, lotus seeds, lily, chestnuts, red dates, japonica rice, etc., and some " "Porridge fruit" is mainly fruit carved into various shapes for decoration. This kind of porridge is specially eaten by the masters of the Confucius House and the Twelve Houses. The other kind is cooked with rice, meat slices, cabbage, tofu, etc., and is given to the servants in Confucius' mansion. People in Henan eat Laba rice, which is cooked with eight ingredients including millet, mung beans, cowpeas, wheat kernels, peanuts, red dates and corn. After it is cooked, some brown sugar and walnut kernels are added. The porridge is thick and fragrant, which symbolizes a good harvest in the coming year. In the Jiangsu region, there are two types of Laba porridge, sweet and salty, and the cooking methods are the same. It’s just that salty porridge is made with vegetables and oil. When Suzhou people cook Laba porridge, they add mushrooms, water chestnuts, walnut kernels, pine nuts, gorgon seeds, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, green vegetables, enoki mushrooms, etc. Li Fu, a Suzhou scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "The porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was passed down from the Brahma Kingdom. The seven treasures are beautifully blended and the five flavors are mixed in." Zhejiang people generally use walnut kernels, pine nuts, gorgon seeds, lotus seeds, red dates, and longan to cook Laba porridge. Meat, lychee meat, etc. are fragrant and delicious. Eat them to pray for a long life. It is said that this method of cooking porridge was spread from Nanjing, and it contains several legends. There are many adults in Sichuan. There are many ways to make Laba porridge, including sweet, salty and spicy. However, rural people eat more salty ones, which are mainly made with soybeans, peanuts, diced meat, white radish and carrots. Foreigners come here to taste it. Although they follow the local customs, it is difficult to get used to it. Nowadays, many urban people eat sweet porridge, which can be said to have different flavors. Laba and porridge are closely related, and if you drink porridge in Laba, you can drink it in a variety of ways and at a high level. Chinese people love Laba porridge so much. Apart from food customs, there are indeed some scientific reasons. Cao Yanshan, a nutritionist in the Qing Dynasty, wrote "Porridge Book", which gave a detailed and clear explanation of the fitness and nutritional functions of Laba porridge. It regulates nutrition and is easy to absorb. It is a good "diet therapy" product. It has the functions of nourishing the kidneys, benefiting the liver, quenching thirst, improving eyesight, laxative and calming the nerves. These have been confirmed by modern medicine. For the elderly, Laba porridge is also a beneficial delicacy, but they should also be careful not to drink too much.

In fact, not only Laba, but also eating porridge is of great benefit to the elderly. There are also many varieties of porridge, which can vary from person to person. You can choose according to your needs and eat them as appropriate. How to make Laba porridge (materials) Peanuts: 40g, soybeans: 40g, barley: 40g, red beans: 40g, red dates: 6-8, lotus seeds: 15g, longan meat: 30g, sugar: 1/2 Cup, water: 10 cups (Method): ① Wash peanuts, soybeans, coix seed, and red beans and soak them in water for 4*6 hours. ②Put 10 cups of water into the pot and cook the beans until they are soft and cooked. ③ Wash the glutinous rice, add red dates and cook for about 25 minutes. Add the cooked beans and longan together and cook for about 20 minutes. Add sugar and bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Ingredients for making Laba porridge: 1 cup of glutinous rice, 100 grams of red beans, 50 grams each of raisins, peanuts, lotus seeds, red dates, dried longans, pine nuts, and 300 grams of sugar. Method: 1. Wash the glutinous rice, soak it overnight, and wash the red beans. , soak for about 4 hours. 2. Put small red beans, lotus seeds and peanut kernels into the inner pot, 6 cups of tobacco leaf water, transfer to the electric pot, add 1 cup of water to the outer pot, and steam until the switch jumps; add glutinous rice, add 1 cup of water to the outer pot, and continue steaming until the switch is turned on. Then add red dates and dried longan, heat half a cup of water in the outer pot, continue steaming until the switch jumps, then stir in pine nuts, raisins and 300 grams of sugar. Two ways to make Laba porridge ●Sweet Laba porridge Ingredients: sweet potatoes, mung beans, millet, rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, red beans, and red dates. Production process: 1. Wash the red dates, peel the sweet potatoes, wash and cut them into pieces, wash the other raw materials and set aside. 2. Add water to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the eight ingredients and simmer over low heat until crispy, soft and glutinous, and the soup is thick. It is ready to serve. Features: soft, glutinous, sweet and nutritious. Warm reminder: 1. The proportion of water and raw materials should be appropriate. 2. When making porridge, the raw materials should be put in the pot under water and stirred continuously with a spoon to avoid sticking to the pot. ●Savory Laba Porridge Ingredients: rice, peanuts, ginkgo, pine nuts, corn, lean pork, lily, almonds, coriander, green onions, and ginger. Seasoning: refined salt, cooking wine, MSG, pepper, sesame oil, stock. Production process: 1. Cut the lean pork into cubes, wash the rice and other raw materials, slice the onions and ginger, wash and mince the coriander. 2. Put the soup in the pot and bring to a boil. Add various ingredients and simmer until the juice is thick. Add seasonings, sprinkle with coriander and serve. Features: Fresh, salty and delicious, rich in nutrients. Warm reminder: 1. There should not be too much lean pork and ingredients, and rice should be the main ingredient. 2. This porridge should not be too salty and the concentration should be appropriate. Ingredients: appropriate amount of rice, 2 carrots, 2 smoked dried pieces, 1 green bamboo shoot, 7-10 shiitake mushrooms, a little fungus, half a catty of pork filling, 5-8 shrimps Ingredients: a little refined salt 1. Wash the rice first , put into a casserole, add water and cook over low heat. If a casserole is not available, an ordinary iron pot or aluminum pot can be used instead. Do not add too little water, it should be six or seven-tenths of the amount that covers the pot. 2. Put the pork stuffing into the pot and skim off the foam after the pot is boiled. For meat fillings, try to use leaner pork fillings. 3. Wash the shrimps and put them into the pot. 4. Cut the pre-soaked mushrooms into dices of about 3 mm, then chop the soaked fungus and pour them into the pot together. 5. Cut the carrots into small dices of about 3 mm and put them in the pot. Carrots should be smaller and tender, without a hard core in the middle. 6. After 15 minutes, cut the dried smoked meat into 3 mm dices and put them into the pot. 7. After 10 minutes, cut the green bamboo shoots into 3 mm dices and put them into the pot. 8. During this period, the porridge should be stirred frequently to avoid sticking to the pan. You can also add some water depending on the situation (because after adding so many things, the porridge will become very thick, of course if you like thicker porridge). 9. After 30 minutes, add a little salt and take it out of the pot. The above can serve approximately 3-4 people, approximately 3-4 bowls per person. This Laba porridge is rich in flavor and beautiful in color. It has the ruddy color of carrots, the black color of shiitake mushrooms and fungus, the brown color of smoked dried vegetables, and the green color of bamboo shoots. It can be said that it is full of color, flavor and flavor. In the cold winter, the family gathers around the TV to have a bowl of Laba porridge and a few side dishes, which is really heartwarming.

Here we recommend using a pressure cooker to cook Laba porridge. This method eliminates the need to brew the beans a day in advance. Let's first take a look at the raw materials used to make porridge. The main raw materials of "Laba porridge" are cereals, and the ingredients are beans. The raw materials include glutinous rice, rice, purple rice, red dates, peanuts, walnuts, raisins, chestnuts, red beans, sesame, etc.

According to legend, this Laba porridge is rich in ingredients, and there is an allusion about a poor scholar who was going to Beijing to take the exam. In order to prepare food, before leaving, he went begging from house to house, because the food provided by each house was They are different, so he collected various kinds of rice and beans. The scholar made porridge and drank the food from begging and thought it tasted very good. Hence the origin of Laba porridge. Because the beans are not cooked well, cook the beans first. Wash the beans and add them directly to the pot. To make Laba porridge in a pressure cooker, boil the beans first. After washing the beans, put them into the pot directly and then light the fire. After the pot is boiled, we turn down the heat, cover the pressure cooker valve, and simmer for 15 minutes before turning off the heat. The purpose of this is to allow the beans to suffocate using the pressure in the pot. Wait until the air in the pressure cooker has dissipated and then open the valve, then the beans will bloom easily. Next, we put the prepared rice, red dates, and chestnuts into the pot and cook them together. When using a pressure cooker to cook Laba porridge, it is worth noting that millet is not allowed. If you want to put millet, do not cover the lid of the pressure cooker to avoid blocking the valve. After 20 minutes of cooking, Laba porridge is ready.

On Laba Day, drinking a bowl of sweet and delicious Laba porridge heralds a prosperous future in the coming year. Attachment: The merits of porridge. Eating porridge has five (good) deeds: it is good for eliminating hunger, quenching thirst, eliminating chronic food, regulating defecation and defecation, and eliminating wind problems. Porridge has five benefits for the body: it relieves hunger, relieves thirst, lowers qi, removes coldness under the navel, and eliminates food. Porridge has ten kinds of merits: giving porridge brings longevity, beauty, happiness, strength, and argumentation; drinking porridge quenches hunger, eliminates thirst, smoothes qi, cleanses the abdomen, and helps digestion. Drinking porridge has five merits: quenching hunger, quenching thirst, quenching wind, eliminating lingering food, and making the unripe food ripe. Whether you are sick or not, regular consumption of porridge will benefit the body in five ways: eliminating hunger, eliminating thirst, eliminating wind and cold diseases, clearing the stomach and intestines, and relieving diseases caused by raw food. (1) Wash rice (glutinous rice is better, add some purple rice or black rice), mung beans and red beans, add water and boil over high heat. Bring to a boil over high heat first, then heat for 5 minutes and then reduce to low heat. (2) Red dates, longan meat, white fungus, chestnuts (raw or fried with remaining sugar, shelled), walnut kernels, wolfberry, raisins, ginkgo (gingko), lotus seeds, hawthorn, kumquat, plum meat ( If there are no seeds, put plum meat, preserved apricots and various preserved fruits, etc.), peanuts, sesame seeds, kidney beans (washed and soaked), taro (washed, peeled and cut into small pieces), rock sugar, etc. into the pot. (3) It will take about 1-2 hours. (The longer the better) If you want to show your filial piety to the elderly at home on Laba day, but it is inconvenient to get up early and queue up, you might as well cook it yourself. Here I will introduce to you how to make sweet and salty Laba porridge --- Method 1: Ingredients: glutinous rice, longan, sugar; ingredients: lotus seeds, white fungus, red dates, lily, yam, mung beans, red beans (others like walnut kernels, pine nuts You can add kernels and gorgon seeds, everyone will be happy). Soak 50 grams of glutinous rice for 10 minutes, add 6 cups of water, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes, add longan and sugar and cook for another 10 minutes, finally add the cooked ingredients and bring to a boil. Method 2: Ingredients: 2 tablespoons each of millet, corn, soybeans, mung beans, and red beans; ingredients: about 100 grams of minced pork, a few lotus seeds and chestnuts, and a little salt. First soak all kinds of beans in cold water for 30 minutes and drain; remove the heart from the lotus seeds and peel the chestnuts; bring the water to a boil, first add the beans and cook for about 15 minutes, then add other ingredients, and boil the water again before use. Simmer for about 45 minutes and serve.