Mustard greens and fish congee
Slightly bitter mustard greens, grass carp slices and ginger cooked into silky congee — sweet, warming and phlegm-clearing, a bowl that warms you from head to toe at Major Snow.
- 1 hr 15 min
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Major Snow brings cold and damp together, and a Phlegm-Damp constitution easily gets phlegmy, heavy and off its food. Mustard greens are pungent and warm, opening the lungs, clearing phlegm and warming the middle; grass carp warms the stomach, and ginger and tangerine peel dry damp and transform phlegm. As a thin congee it warms you and is easy to digest, so it won't sit heavy.
Method
Prep 15 min · Cook 60 min- 1Rinse the rice and toss with a little oil and salt. Soften the tangerine peel and scrape off the pith; wash the mustard greens and cut into lengths.
- 2Bring the water to the boil, add the rice and peel, boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for 40 minutes until silky.
- 3Marinate the fish with the soy sauce, cornflour and pepper for 10 minutes. Add the mustard greens and ginger to the congee and simmer for 5 minutes.
- 4Add the fish and simmer for 1 minute until just cooked, season with salt and serve straight away.
Cautions
- Mustard greens are warming: eat less if you have a sore throat, mouth ulcers or haemorrhoids.
Chef's tips
- Add the fish last and turn off the heat after a minute so it stays silky.
The TCM view
Mustard greens are pungent and warm, opening the lungs, clearing phlegm, warming the middle and moving qi. Grass carp is sweet and warm, warming the stomach and harmonising the middle; tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm, regulating qi, strengthening the spleen, drying damp and transforming phlegm, and ginger warms the middle. Together they warm away phlegm and damp and strengthen digestion — suited to Phlegm-Damp in winter.
