It's Not New Year Until Arroz Caldo

Growing up, we would have Arroz Caldo on New Year's Eve. A big pot would be bubbling away on the stove before midnight. After all the jumping up and down, the whooping and hollering at midnight, we would get steaming bowls of Arroz Caldo and get our tummies nice and full before going back to bed.

Everyone have different a take on how to cook Arroz Caldo. For the uninitiated, Arroz Caldo is chicken soup with rice Pilipino style. The main ingredients are chicken, rice (duh!), ginger, garlic and fish sauce. (Us, Pilipinos, really do like our fish sauce). But how one put these things together is unique. Some will cook the chicken and rice separately then add them together at the end. I think that's gypping the rice from cooking in the chicken broth. I cooked up a big batch tonight. Just didn't feel like New Year without it. Lauren and Emma really enjoyed it.

Here's how I cook it:
1. Get a big pot and add vegetable oil to it. Saute the chicken pieces until slightly brown but not too brown.
2. Take the chicken out and add chopped garlic. Brown the garlic (yeah, it will be bitter but that's the point) and take it out with a slotted spoon.
3. Add more chopped garlic and lots of slivered ginger. Saute until fragrant.
4. Add rice and stir so that it is coated well with oil.
5. Add chicken broth and fish sauce.
6. Add chicken back and simmer until chicken and rice is cooked.
7. Serve with the fried garlic, green onions and kalamansi. Living in the tudra called New England, it is hard to find this little citrus. In a pinch, you can substitute a mixture of lemon juice and clementine juice.
Don't even ask me the portions of each ingredient.



One of my good memories of eating Arroz Caldo was when I went to Philippines as a teenager. My sister Chidel, my cousins and I went dancing. After clubbing, we got the late night munchies and went to Luneta (or Rizal Park) and chowed down arroz caldo from one of the vendors.