Recipe: Arroz Caldo : Filipino Chicken Rice Soup

I made White Cut Chicken (Bak Chit Gai) the night before (recipe here) and have this lovely chicken stock left over. It's quite chilly and sleeting outside and I started craving Arroz Caldo, a thick Filipino rice soup that is inspired by the Chinese rice congee. Arroz Caldo means "Hot Rice" in Spanish and was probably given that name by the Spanish settlers in the Philippines when they discovered Chinese congee.

Since the stock is already flavored with ginger and garlic, I found it perfect for this comforting dish. I used some left-over cooked chicken to make this and sped up the process.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 inch piece of ginger (thinly sliced)
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup rice (either sweet rice or long grain or a combo of each)
• 1 pound boneless chicken meat (chopped: your choice of chicken breast or thigh)
• 6 cups water or chicken stock
• 2 tbs fish sauce (you can use salt or chicken bouillon if you don't have)
• 2 scallions (white and green part finely sliced for garnish)

Directions

1. In a medium sized pot, heat oil and cook the onion, garlic, and ginger for a minute until fragrant.
2. Add fish sauce and the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir until coated with the flavored oil.
4. Add the water or stock and cover.
5. Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
6. When done, turn off heat. You may need to add a little water to adjust thickness to your preference.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with the sliced scallions.