Hello, lovelies!
I’m so sorry that I abandoned you for a week, but I seriously needed a break. I feel much better now. Anyway, it’s been super cold lately, so I wanted to share my favorite cold weather recipe: arroz caldo. Arroz caldo is basically the Filipino version of chicken soup with rice. It’s perfect for the cold weather, and whenever one of my family members is sick, they request it. I don’t think I cook it the traditional way, but here’s my recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 package of chicken breasts
- 2.5 cups jasmine rice
- A few splashes of soy sauce
- A bit of cooking oil
- 2+ tbsp minced garlic (or garlic to taste)
- Fresh ginger to taste
- 6+ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- Red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
Recipe
Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and cook in a frying pan with a little cooking oil and a couple splashes of soy sauce. While the chicken is cooking, peel cut up your ginger. I use a potato peeler to get thin pieces. Place your garlic and ginger in a stock pot with a little bit of oil and cook until fragrant.
When the garlic and ginger are fragrant and the chicken is mostly cooked, add the chicken to the stock pot without adding the oil/soy sauce mixture. Place the uncooked rice into the pan and coat it with the oil/soy sauce mixture. I’m not sure why you do that, but that’s how I was taught. Transfer the rice to the stock pot. Add 1 cup of water and 6 cups of chicken broth. If you want a little spice, add some red pepper flakes. Cook until the rice looks overcooked.
Arroz Caldo
Traditionally, I’m pretty sure arroz caldo doesn’t contain soy sauce or red pepper flakes, but my family likes the extra flavor. When we’re sick, we add some extra red pepper to clear our sinuses. It can also be made with tripe, but my family isn’t about that life.
This recipe yields 2-3 meals for my family of 4. The rice sucks up all of the chicken broth, so when serving leftovers, as chicken broth as needed.
What’s your favorite cold weather recipe? Let me know in the comments! xo
This sounds so good! I am not sick, but I like eating hot soups during winter. I will have to put it on my list of soups to make! I get tired of eating the same things over and over again too, so this would be a little different. I am not about that tripe life either. Haha.
I usually like chili and chicken noodle soup, but I haven’t made homemade chicken noodle soup yet though. Maybe I could start with this. We have to go and get something tonight again for dinner. A chicken soup sounds really good.
Damnit, now I want chili!
Mmm this sounds delicious, and like it would be the perfect antidote to a yucky cold! I like the idea of making it a bit spicy with the red pepper flakes to help amp up the taste when you’re sick.
My favourite cold weather food is anything with mashed potatoes lol. I love shepherds pies, or mashed potatoes as a side with some gravy… so good! I think it’s the Irish girl in me coming out!
I love love LOVE mashed potatoes! And now I want shepherds pie, too!
I used to work in a part of Sydney where lots of Filipinos had settled and occasionally would sample the goodies in some of their stores – like those flan things! A guide would have been good though so I could be sure I wasn’t eating anything too terrifying to my white Australian palate. Tripe!
That’s awesome! My parents love leche flan, but for some reason, I hate it. There are a lot of Filipino goodies, but there are also a lot of terrifying things that I refuse to eat.
A few of the food places I used to pass had fish that looked like they had just been chucked into a deep fryer with very little preparation. I am NOT going to eat something that looks at me accusingly with its terrible dead eyes!
When I was a kid, my cousin ate the eye from the fish we were having for dinner. I was HORRIFIED!
This looks really yummy, and I bet it’s good for when you’re sick! When I lived in Mexico, that’s what people would get me to feel better 🙂 And they also add lime juice in Mexico, right when you’re serving it. Love the flavor it adds!
This year I’ve discovered I’m good with meat and veggie soup. It’s just stew meat, cooking in a lot of water, spices, and all the veggie I can find. My husband doesn’t eat many veggies (and I can’t blame him, seems like his mother doesn’t either!), but he likes it when they’re in this soup. I usually use chayote (which is very typical from my country!), sweet potato, corn, carrots, onion, and potatoes, and I add them all to the meat that’s boiling in all the water. When everything is cooked, I add rice and leave it for a few hours to the rice, meat and veggies absorb each others’ flavors (just like with your chicken broth!). It’s super filling, rather cheap, and since it’s only two of us and I always do a lot, it’s about 2-3 days of not having to cook again 🙂
I love the idea of adding lime to it. I may need to try that next time! And your soup sounds delicious, too!