Eight Treasure Congee (La Ba Zhou)

The night before, soak the adzuki beans and mung beans separately in cold water; at least 4 hours before cooking, soak the glutinous rice and lotus seeds separately in cold water, so each ingredient absorbs enough moisture to soften evenly during the long simmer rather than resisting it at the core. Drain each thoroughly before use.

Bring 1.8 litres of water to a rolling boil in a heavy pot, then add the adzuki beans, mung beans, lotus seeds, and peanuts first, so these slower-cooking ingredients have a head start before the more delicate ones enter the pot. Reduce to a moderate simmer, partially cover, and cook for 45 minutes — the beans should have begun to yield at the surface but will not yet be fully tender.

Add the soaked glutinous rice, walnuts, red dates, and dried longan flesh, stir to combine, and return to a gentle simmer. Cook partially covered for a further 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes and adding water in small additions if the porridge thickens to the point of catching, so the rice and beans can gradually surrender their structure and collapse into a single creamy mass — this is where the dish lives or dies, because heat too high scorches the bottom and a simmer cut too short leaves the congee grainy and the beans chalky.

Continue to simmer, stirring more frequently, for a further 30 minutes, so any remaining resistance in the grains is worked out and the starch released into the liquid gives the congee its body. The congee is ready when it has deepened to a pale amber, flows slowly from the spoon in thick ribbons, and the surface is glossy and cohesive rather than watery.

Taste for sweetness — the natural sugars of the dates and longans should carry the porridge — and add the brown sugar only if needed, stirring until fully dissolved. Add the goji berries now and simmer for exactly 5 minutes, so they plump and their skins turn just tender while staying vivid and distinct; added any earlier, they bleed and stain the entire porridge an uneven red. The congee is done when the berries are swollen and bright.