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    Rice · Recipe · Philippines · Reference page

    Arroz caldo

    arroz caldo

    Filipino chicken and rice porridge, heavy with ginger and garlic, cooked from jasmine and glutinous rice and finished at the table with citrus, fish sauce and an optional egg. The recipe is by Adrian Briones for SBS Food.

    A bowl of arroz caldo with soft rice porridge,cooked chicken,ginger and spring onions,with two small cumquat wedges on the rim.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    10 min
    Cooking
    1 h
    Total
    1 h 10
    Difficulty
    Easy

    Equipment

    • Large heavy saucepan
    • Sieve for washing the rice
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    • Porridge

    • To serve

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Wash the jasmine and glutinous rice twice and set aside.

    2. Heat the oil in the large saucepan over medium heat. Brown the spatchcock pieces, turning, for 5 minutes.

      Timer · 5 min5:00

    3. Add the ginger, garlic and spring onion and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.

    4. Add the salt, pepper, both rices and the 2 litres of water. Stir gently, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 50–60 minutes, until the rice is tender and the liquid has thickened.

      Why The glutinous rice gives the porridge its silky thickness.

      Timer · 55 min55:00

    5. Ladle into bowls. If using, crack an egg over each and stir it in. Squeeze over cumquat, add fish sauce to taste and scatter with spring onion. Serve at once.

      Why The egg only part-cooks in the hot porridge; for anyone who should avoid soft eggs, stir the eggs into the simmering pot until set instead.

    Substitutions

    • Spatchcock → Chicken pieces of the same weight, as the source allows.
    • Cumquats → Lemon wedges, as the source allows, or calamansi.

    Common mistakes

    • Cooking on too high a heat: the rice sticks and scorches on the base.
    • Skipping the ginger: it is the dish's main flavour.

    Storage & reheating

    Cool quickly (rice within an hour), refrigerate and eat within a day; reheat once, until steaming hot, loosening with water (UK FSA).

    Safety

    Contains fish (fish sauce) and, if added, egg. The chicken simmers for close to an hour and is cooked through; check there is no pink meat at the bone (UK FSA).

    Allergens

    Fish · Egg

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    gluten-free · dairy-free

    A congee made Filipino

    SBS Food introduces Adrian Briones's recipe by noting that Filipino food is strongly influenced by Chinese cuisine, "yet all Filos consider arroz caldo part of the national food culture". It is a rice porridge in the family of the Chinese congee, made Filipino by lots of ginger and garlic and by the seasonings added at the table: fish sauce and the juice of a small citrus. Briones uses cumquats in place of the more usual Filipino citrus.

    [1]

    Two rices and one pot

    Everything cooks in one pot. The jointed bird is browned in oil, the aromatics go in for 30 seconds, then the rice and 2 litres of water simmer for close to an hour. A mix of jasmine and glutinous rice gives body: the glutinous rice breaks down and thickens the broth. The egg is cracked into each bowl and stirred through at the end.

    [1]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin Philippines In preparation

    Rice

    Recipe

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