Apple, red date & tangerine peel millet porridge
Golden millet porridge with fragrant tangerine peel, sweet red dates and fresh apple, plus a boiled egg — bright, gently sweet and uplifting.
- 55 min
- Serves 2
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Qi Stagnation brings low moods and a tight chest, and Cold Dew's shortening days can make it worse. Fragrant tangerine peel moves qi, colourful apple and red dates are sweet and appetising, and a regular warm breakfast helps lift the mood.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 45 min- 1The night before: soak the tangerine peel until soft, scrape off the pith and cut into strips. Rinse the millet and put it in the rice cooker with the red dates, peel and water; set the porridge timer.
- 2In the morning, wash and core the apple and cut it into small dice, skin on.
- 3Pour the porridge into a pan and bring to the boil, add the apple and simmer for 2–3 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave covered for 1 minute.
- 4Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 8–9 minutes, cool under cold water, peel and serve with the porridge.
Chef's tips
- Add the apple at the end so it stays fragrant and slightly crisp; a quarter of a peel is plenty — more turns bitter.
The TCM view
Aged tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm; it moves qi and supports the spleen. Apple is sweet, sour and cool; it generates fluids, moistens the lungs and eases irritability. Red dates are sweet and warm and nourish blood and calm the mind; millet is sweet and cool and settles the stomach; egg nourishes blood. Fragrant pungency with sweet moisture soothes the liver without drying.
