Arroz Caldo | Filipino Chicken Congee 🇵🇭🍲

Nursing our soul from the gloomy weather with this hot bowl of arroz caldo, seasoned with hints of saffron and ginger. We topped ours with spring onions, toasted garlic, a hard boiled egg and a generous spoonful of chilli oil! 🤤

Arroz Caldo is a filipino chicken rice porridge that is similar to a Chinese congee. It's heavily infused with ginger and garnished with toasted garlic and green onions! It's usually served with calamansi or fish sauce as condiments and of course the hard-boiled egg!

🕒 45 mins 👤 6-7 people

Ingredients

• 2tbsp oil

• 1 large onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic

• Thumb sized fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

• 500g chicken thighs, deboned and cut into bite size pieces.

• 3 tbsp fish sauce

• 1 cup glutinous rice

• 1/2 cup rice (medium grain is fine!)

• ✨ Secret Ingredient ✨ 1tbsp of saffron

• Pepper to taste

Toppings

• 2 stalks green onion, chopped

• 1 lemon or lime, sliced (Optional)

• Fried garlic (can be purchased in local Asian market or use homemade!)

• Chilli oil 🌶

• Hard boiled egg (a must!)

Method:

1. Heat large pot in med-high heat and add oil.

2. Sauté garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant.

3. Add in your chopped chicken thighs and cook until it develops a nice colour on each side.

4. Add in your rice, glutinous and normal rice and stir until combined.

5. Add 5 cups of water or chicken stock and continue mixing until the rice softens and the water gets absorbed. ✨ PRO TIP: ✨ Make sure to stir every few mins and to scrape the bottom of the pot, making sure that the rice is not sticking!

6. Season with pepper, fish sauce and saffron & close and continue to cook for another 5 mins until you reach a thick consistency. Note: Add more water / chicken stock if it becomes too thick.

7. Once cooked, transfer into a bowl, add your hard boiled egg, a squeeze of

lemon, a sprinkle of your chopped green onion and fried garlic and finish it off

with a generous teaspoon of chilli oil! 🤤🍲