MUZIChinese Matrix
Laba Festival · FFET10194
A sweet porridge for the 8th of the twelfth lunar month, made with glutinous rice, grains, beans and dried fruit; its temple custom appears in the Southern Song Mengliang lu.
A deep white porcelain bowl holds thick purple-brown congee with glutinous rice, black rice, red beans, mung beans, peanuts, walnut halves, red dates and dried longan, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
Congee cooked and shared on the eighth of the twelfth month, the first taste of the New Year
Laba congee is a sweet porridge for the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, cooked from glutinous rice, mixed grains, beans and dried fruit. Laba porridge appears in volume 6 of the Southern Song Mengliang lu by Wu Zimu: large temples served five-flavor porridge that day. Northern Song temples in Dongjing, now Kaifeng, cooked a similar seven-treasure, five-flavor porridge; this account is second-hand and was not checked against the original. The porridge is now eaten across China, with distinct temple customs in Suzhou and Beijing.
Laba congee is a sweet porridge of glutinous rice, mixed grains, beans, dried fruit and nuts, eaten on the 8th day of the twelfth lunar month.2,4,5
Laba porridge appears in volume 6 of the Southern Song Mengliang lu by Wu Zimu: large temples served five-flavor porridge on the 8th of the twelfth month. Northern Song temples in Dongjing also cooked a similar seven-treasure, five-flavor porridge. The Southern Song passage gives no year; the Northern Song account is second-hand and was not checked against the original.1,2
Laba congee is made across China, including at Yonghe Temple in Beijing. The Laba porridge of Suzhou temples appears in a January 2024 article.2,3
Pair glutinous rice and a dark rice with beans and nuts, then soak and cook: 40 to 60 minutes on the stove, or about 25 to 30 minutes in a pressure cooker, with or without rock sugar.4,5
Laba is held to be the day the Buddha reached enlightenment, and temples cook porridge as an offering and share it with the public. A link to the Zhou period's year-end sacrifice is an interpretation offered in a 2024 article.3,4,5
Suzhou temples serve porridge to the public each Laba, a custom documented in a 2024 article.3
Legend has it that before his enlightenment the Buddha practiced austerities for six years by the Nairanjana River, until a shepherdess brought him milk porridge. Temples are said to cook porridge on Laba in memory of this.
Told in: A story told in Buddhist temples, recounted in a January 2024 article on Laba and Suzhou Laba porridge from China Social Sciences (Fangzhi Suzhou); the article gives the temples' account and no dated original text.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is the sweet Laba congee I cook at home, with glutinous rice, black rice, beans, peanuts and walnuts, plus red dates and dried longan. I looked at two published recipes by two different authors. The mix of ingredients follows the recipe with peanuts, walnuts and longan, and simmering on the stove for 40 to 60 minutes is what both recipes give. Both also give a pressure cooker method, at about 25 to 30 minutes. The amounts roughly follow the recipe with peanuts, walnuts and longan, converted to grams, with a little more red beans and red dates by my own choice; the rock sugar is optional.
Allergens: peanut, tree nut
