A traditional Chinese dessert analogous to rice pudding. The eight treasures refers to the 8 different nutritious ingredients that go into it. It is traditionally eaten on Laba festival (December 8th on the lunar calendar). Ingredients can be easily substituted but just remember there should be 8 main ingredients (for namesake), and you should adjust the time at which the ingredient goes into the pot to ensure everything is cooked just right at the end. Other common ingredients include jujube, chestnuts, dried dates, dried longan meat, other dried fruits, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, melon-seed meat, pine nuts, lotus seeds, sesame seeds, kidney beans, black bean, and many others.
