Arroz Caldo
With winter coming, I turn to making a traditional Filipino dish: Arroz Caldo. I’ve asked my brother and mom about their recipe for it and they give it to me without actual measurements or time. My brother makes a chicken stock first, then makes the soup. My mom just gives me the steps: cook chicken with ginger, add water, add rice, cook until done. Not very many ingredients and not many steps. What can go wrong?
My mom left out let the chicken simmer into a stock!
SO YOU HAVE TO HAVE A CHICKEN STOCK.
And now my version doesn’t taste too well. Here’s how I worked my version.
I did use some of the chicken stock I made two weeks ago here. I also used 2 cups.
I take 3 chicken thighs and fry it with ginger, salt, and pepper. Cut the ginger into little slivers so that when you eat the soup, you’ll spend your time spitting out the ginger stalks.
When the chicken looks to be cooked through, add your chicken stock and enough water to cover. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for twenty minutes. This is were my mom should’ve said to let it simmer for another 2 hours. Next time simmer for 2 hours.
Here add the rice which you should rinse until the water is clear. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for another 2 hours.
Take the chicken out and shred. Add it back into the soup along with a heaping dose of patis.
Serve with scallions, fried garlic and more patis.
