It’s typhoon season here in the Philippines, again. 😭 Unfortunately, for us living here in the Philippines, we're already used to experiencing severe tropical storms to supertyphoons when the ber months start. Just this weekend, Paeng, with International name Tropical Storm Nalgae hit the Philippines leaving at least 48 casualties and almost a million "displaced" Filipinos. Source
It's a long weekend here in the Philippines, October 31 and November 1 are both declared non-working holidays. People were looking forward to heading to their respective provinces to celebrate All Souls' and All Saints' Days. Then Paeng happened, leaving hundreds of people from various seaports, airports and bus terminals to be stranded all over the Philippines. I’m one of the lucky few who made it home before Saturday came.
Earlier this week, I was contemplating what kind of food I’ll cook during the weekend. It has been sunless the entire week so I was looking for food that’s best suited for the gloomy weather. I already had this recipe in mind.
Yesterday, I woke up to the sound of heavy rain and mildly strong winds. It was the best time to be home with the people you love. Despite sleeping past 1 AM last Friday, I manage to wake up at 7 AM and accompanied my father to buy some food items in our local public market. And that's when I finally decided that I'm making this recipe.
What you’ll need?
Today, I'll walk you through my version of Arroz Caldo. Arroz Caldo or commonly known as sospas (at times, I hear pospas) is basically rice congee/porridge with a twist. I don’t eat the regular lugaw or congee. It’s something I avoid eating all the time. For me it's associated with being sick in the hospital when you're not allowed to eat anything but a bland rice porridge. So yep, it's a no for me! Haha! 😂
But this congee recipe is nowhere near the ordinary lugaw or congee. Find out what’s in Arroz Caldo that made me want to eat it the entire day yesterday!
To begin, you'll need the following ingredients:
• 5 cloves minced garlic
• 1 medium-sized minced onion
• 100g Julienned ginger
• 2 cups regular rice (soaked in water for at least 1 hour)
• 1 cup glutinous rice (soaked in water for at least 1 hour)
• Chives
• Toasted garlic
• 20 cups water (or more as needed)
• 1 Knorr cubes chicken broth
• 1/3 cup cooking oil
• ½ kg chopped chicken into small bits (use meaty part such as breast, leg quarter)
• egg (optional)
• chopped scallion/spring onion (for garnish)
• toasted garlic (for garnish)
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Easy steps to a hearty meal for the cold weather
[1] Preheat a medium-sized pot, add cooking oil, minced garlic, minced onion and half of the julienned ginger. Sauté for about 1 minute.
[2] Add the chicken and sauté until meat becomes partly tender. Cover the pot and leave in low flame for about 2-3 minutes.
[3] Add the regular rice and glutinous rice and combine with the rest of the ingredients in the pot.
[4] Once everything is well combined, add about 5 cups of water or until the rice is completely submerged into the water. Dissolve the Knorr chicken cubes before adding it in the pot. Cover the pot and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally to avoid burning the bottom part of the pot.
[5] Check the pot once in a while, if you notice that the mixture in the pot is already running dry, add more water. Let is simmer in low flame until the rice becomes completely soft. If you'll skip soasking the rice, both regular and glutinous, you'll spend more time cooking. Soaking the rice beforehand does the trick. 😉
Optional: You can add egg/eggs to the pot while waiting for the rice to completely cook. Another trick to boil an egg without extra effort! 😂
Add more water depending in your preference. Once the rice is completely cook, season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also substitute salt with fish sauce or patis. We don't normally store patis in our house so salt all the way hehe
There's another trick you may want to try at home, too! Add the rest of the julienned ginger at the end. I love the ginger flavor that makes the congee warmer once you eat it! 🥰
Gloomy weather ready!
Now, I declare that you are ready for the rest of the week's murky weather! You can slice the boiled egg and put it on top of your congee, garnish with sliced chicken, toasted garlic (mine's spicy!) and some chopped spring onions!
Mix everything before eating! I ate this for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday! 😁
As of this writing, the typhoon Paeng has left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) but sadly, I heard from the radio that tomorrow, another Tropical Depression will enter PAR specifically in Northeastern Mindanao. I hope everyone's safe and if you're cold and have access to the simple ingredients I've shared above, you can try cooking this at home and sharing a hearty meal with your family!
Let me know how it goes! Keep safe guys! 🥰
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