How to Make Postpartum Pork Liver Porridge

Rice porridge, or 粥 in Chinese, is a staple in the Cantonese culture. It’s commonly eaten for breakfast, or when you’re sick, or really just anytime. It’s like chicken noodle soup. It is comforting, warms the body, is nourishing, and tastes great no matter what time of the day it is! As June continues her postpartum recovery from delivering twins, I helped her prep a Postpartum Pork Liver Porridge.

 
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What You’ll Need:

sweet rice and black glutinous rice - both types of rice help the body tonify by expelling toxins. They also help in increasing breastmilk supply.

pork liver - is mentioned many times in the postpartum recovery diet as it is one of the strongest foods to help build and replenish blood and heal wounds. This is great as a woman’s body experiences a lot of changes and blood loss after birth. Soaking the pork liver in lemon juice will help break down the liver, making it more palatable.

fresh ginger and black sesame oil - immediately after birth, the body is in a “yin” state and requires warming foods to rebalance. Ginger is a “yang,” or warming food. The browning of the ginger in black sesame oil warms and cleanses the uterus.

gogi berries - are packed with antioxidants and is traditionally used in Chinese medicine for boosting blood circulation.

  • 1 cup black glutinous rice

  • 1 cup sweet rice

  • 10 cups water

  • 1/2 lb pork liver

  • lots of fresh lemon juice (I used about 8 lemons)

  • 2in knob of fresh ginger

  • 2 tbsp black sesame oil

  • 1/4 cup gogi berries

How to Cook It:

  1. Rinse and soak the black glutinous rice and sweet rice in cold water for at least 8 hours.

  2. Half an hour (30 min) prior to cooking, soak the pork liver in enough lemon juice to cover. Then, drain and cut the liver into smaller pieces.

  3. To the Instapot, add pre-rinsed and pre-soaked rice and liver. Cook on low for an hour.

  4. In a small pan, brown the ginger in black sesame oil. Set aside.

  5. Once the porridge is done cooking, stir in browned ginger with the sesame oil it was cooked in and gogi berries.

  6. Enjoy!

Written by Edlyn Wong

June QuanComment