Arroz Caldo

When I was growing up in the Philippines, I would occasionally feign illness to miss a school day. My mother would then send our househelp to buy and bring back every type of food I could think of and one of my favorite requests was arroz caldo bought from the downtown wet market. Before she would leave for work, my mother would live detailed instructions to our yaya on what times I will be taking my paracetemol and on when to heat up my arroz caldo. My mother has always been good that way, always bent on making her children happy…and spoiled. Did she know I was faking? Of course.

The weather today pretty much started warm and sunny but by the time I headed home from work at 5 PM, the temperature has plummeted to the nippy 60’s and the skies had already shifted to an ominous black. For some inexplicable reason, the prospect of a heavy rain made me feel alone and lonely and afraid. I do not know why, but that very moment, I felt like a little child longing for her mother to make things alright. I drove all the way home wishing for the warmth and comfort of a bowl of piping hot arroz caldo.

Arroz caldo is an excellent way of reusing leftover rice and extending meat to a substantial meal offering. Although its name suggests Spanish infleunce, its preparations are more similar to Chinese porridge. This filipino variation of lugaw starts like tinolang manok, with aromatics such as onion, ginger and garlic for flavor, and completes with rice thrown in to cook in broth to desired viscosity. The arroz caldo recipe below is how I like to enjoy mine: soupy and gingery~and has been tested and given many thumbs-up by my beloved duo at home and my friends at work. You can, of course, modify the amounts of water and seasonings to suit your desired consistency and taste.

 

Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (around 3 to 4 lbs), bone-in, cut into small pieces
1 palm-size ginger, peeled and minced (to about 1 cup)
2 heads garlic, peeled and minced
1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
5 pieces chicken bouillion cubes (or 2 1/2 tbsps chicken base powder)
14 to 16 cups water
salt and pepper
2 tbsps patis (fish sauce)
cooking oil
green onions, finely chopped
calamansi or lemon juice

Procedure

Trim unwanted fat from chicken parts, wash and drain well. Wash rice and drain well.

Set aside around 1 tsp of the minced garlic. In a small pan, fry over low heat the remainder of the garlic until brown and toasted.

In a deep, heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil. Saute ginger, onions and the teaspoon of reserved garlic until tender and aromatic.

Add chicken pieces and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned and have rendered juice. Pour in fish sauce. Continue to stir for around 1 to 2 minutes.

Add in rice. Stir continously until rice starts to lightly brown. Pour in 10 cups of the water. Allow to a boil, removing scum that may float to surface. Add bouillion cubes. Cover pot and lower heat to simmer. Check and stir regularly. Add the rest of the water in 1 cup increments and as needed. Continue to cook until the rice has softened and the congee has thickened to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste ( I used about 1/8 tsp pepper and 1/2 tbsp salt).

Ladle into bowls and top with chopped green onions and fried garlic bits. Squirt in calamansi or lemon juice to taste. Serve hot.

Tip:
Mince ginger as small as you can so that they are almost unrecognizable in the soup.

 

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