Eight Treasure Porridge Dessert

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dried small red beans (adzuki beans)
• water to cover
• 1/4 cup barley
• 1/2 cup glutinous sweet rice
• 1/4 cup dried mung bean
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup millet
• 1/4 cup dried small pearl tapioca
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, or more to taste
• 1/4 cup raisins

Instructions

1. Place red beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 3 hours to overnight. Drain and rinse.
2. Combine red beans and barley in a pot; add enough water to fill 1/2 the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer until beans and barley are tender, about 1 hour.
3. Mix rice into bean barley mixture; add more water if it has all been absorbed. Cook rice mixture for 20 minutes. Add mung beans; cook for 20 minutes.
4. Mix oats, millet, and tapioca into rice mixture; cook, stirring every 5 minutes, until all the grains are softened, about 20 minutes. Add more water to reach desired thickness of porridge. Stir brown sugar and raisins into porridge; cook for 5 minutes more. Remove pot from heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Serve hot or chilled.

Tips

You may need to visit a Chinese store to find some of these ingredients. There are many versions. This version uses many different dried grains; other versions are more fruit-heavy. Test if the red bean and barley are starting to get soft after simmering 1 hour. If not, keep cooking and test every 20 minutes until they are.