This warm, soothing, and savory rice porridge (called kandaba jushi) restores energy; Okinawans often cook it for children, the elderly, and people recovering from illness. But it’s not just medicinal—it often replaces rice in the traditional Okinawan meal of rice, miso soup, and vegetables.
Photo: Elle DeBell Cooks
1⁄2 cup medium-grain white rice
21⁄2 tablespoons miso
3 cups dark greens like sweet potato leaves (kandaba), spinach, beet tops, or rainbow collard greens
2 cups dashi broth
Salt (optional)
Add rice, miso, greens, and dashi to a soup pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce to simmer immediately and cook for about 15 minutes or until rice is soft.
Add salt to taste before serving.
The Blue Zones Kitchen fuses scientific reporting, National Geographic photography and 100 recipes that may help you live to 100. The Blue Zones’ food tradition is going the way of the dodo bird, thanks to the encroachment of the American Food Culture.
Learn More
