Arroz Caldo (Filipino Chicken Congee) – iLugaw 4S for Kulinarya Challenge

It’s Kulinarya time once again …… and the November Challenge conceived by Joy of Joy’s Misadventures is up among the (probably) finest Filipino food bloggers around …… exploring an authentic Filipino light meal or snack dish generically referred to as “lugaw” …… a common name which for me is representative of scrumptiousness, self-effacement, simplicity and serenity …… my own concoction of iLugaw 4S. :-)

This month’s theme is “arroz caldo”. A type of Filipino congee or “lugaw” (as referred in the local language) flavored or added with chicken. As you may know, the main component of the dish is rice which in the Spanish language is called …… you guessed it right, “arroz”. Well of course, the other originally Spanish word “caldo” refers to broth or stock …… I know you knew that …… and you need a lot of it to be able to prepare a really tasty rice congee worthy of being called iLugaw 4S.

This modest dish is superb when the climate is cool …… during winter (obviously when living outside the Philippines, like most Kulinaryans are) …… or when it’s windy and rainy. It is believed to possess the ability to perk-up or improve one’s body condition after dining with it …… piping hot of course. It is also considered an ideal comfort food for the sick and elderly as it has a therapeutic effect …… or healing power of sort, if you like.

Apart from my “Goto Arroz Caldo”, I have already posted a recipe for “Arroz Caldo” before (no, it’s not called iLugaw 4). While I am fully satisfied with it, in honor of Kulinarya Cooking Club, I will attempt to make a reboot entrée to offer a fresher approach to the dish …… hopefully to come out with simpler or easier procedure but geared towards accommodating many variations or possibilities …… and probably …… just probably …… we could make serving and eating the humble “lugaw” more fun and exciting. :-)

Espasol a la Luz (Sweet Rice Flour Cake or Pudding)

Reel and Grill is blessed. Blessed with really wonderful friends who are willing to unselfishly disclose some of their most kept secret recipes and food preparation techniques ……… all in the name of friendship……… and the noble cause of sharing kitchen knowledge. So that everybody, most especially you dear friends, followers and readers of this humble blog, can enjoy the food creations they personally concocted……… perfected ………… over years of untiring preparation. After all, we as food lovers should all champion the essence and beauty of keeping amazing recipes flowing and made available for all who lives the same passion.

Like the rest of foodies who have generously contributed recipes here, Madame Luz, in celebration of her birthday, is sharing her famous, among friends and relatives alike, homemade “espasol” recipe. Hurray! I am extremely excited about this as “espasol” is one of my childhood favorite Filipino sweet delicacy or “kakanin” which I haven’t had in quite a long time. I know many of you; especially those Filipinos working and living abroad would share the same feeling of enthusiasm. For Luz will be our salvation to be able to prepare the uniquely sweet and delectable “espasol” on our own.

“Espasol” is a soft and chewy Filipino rice pudding or cake which originated from the province of Laguna (Philippines). It is typically cylindrical in shape, although also served in squares, diamonds and other flat fun figures. It is made from sweet rice flour cooked in coconut milk and sweetened coconut strips or other flavorful fruits like jack fruit, etc. It is quite sticky but dusted with toasted sweet rice flour to make it easily manageable. It is eaten as a satisfying snack or “merienda” in between meals or as a flavorsome dessert after a meal. It is a popular give away or “pasalubong” item, especially during the Christmas season of giving.

Kutsinta or Cuchinta a la Lalaine (Filipino Brown Rice Cake)

This is a HIT! I kid you not. This is “kutsinta” or Filipino brown rice cake at its best. We are so lucky that a very good childhood and family friend, my younger sister’s classmate, is sharing this wonderful recipe which she developed and perfected over a rather long period of repeated preparations, for everyone reading this blog to enjoy. Amazingly, this traditional snack dish is quite easy to prepare………at least a lot easier than I thought. It also requires a few ordinary ingredients which most of you almost certainly have them already in your pantry except probably for two.

“Kutsinta” is a traditional snack food of the Philippines that belongs to the wide-ranging group of Filipino native delicacies called “kakanin”, a Filipino language which literally means snacks. “Turon” and “minatamis na saging” which I featured earlier are also considered as native “kakanin”. As most “kakanin” are, “kutsinta” is basically made from ground rice locally called “galapong” or in the modern world rice flour, and among the several variations of the highly regarded Filipino rice cakes where “puto” and “kutsinta” are the most prominent.

I believe that every Filipino has a childhood memory of this delicious food. This used to be among the widely served and eaten snacks in every Filipino home. While modernization and necessary contacts with the outside world have brought a new set of exciting snacks from all over the world such as hamburgers, pizzas, spaghetti, to name just a few, “kutsinta (and “puto”) has maintained an enduring niche in the market. It continues to serve loyal patrons which prefer the healthy and tasty traditional food over the proliferating trendy but calorie-laden snacks.

Bopis Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag)

In the same passion of cooking adobo garlic fried rice, I have experimented with many other variations using different leftover meat; basically whatever is available in our kitchen. My latest trial is using some excess “bopis” and it came out quite fine hence my posting here. As also featured here before, “bopis” or “bopiz” is a spicy Filipino dish made from finely diced pork or beef lights (lungs) and heart sautéed in garlic, onions, tomatoes, chilies and vinegar. It is a very tasty and sometimes really spicy dish which can be eaten with rice as a main meal or side dish and often times as bites or “pulutan” while drinking alcoholic beverages.

We have some leftover “bopis” and it so happened that we want to eat fried rice, so I thought of preparing garlic fried rice flavored with “bopis” or in other words, a “bopis-garlic fried rice”. With my firm belief in the delicious “bopis” and the aromatic garlic, I never had doubt about the resulting fried rice dish. And I was right; the concocted dish was wonderful and something worth blogging. It’s distinctly tasty and yummy. It is now among my favorite fried rice recipes and repeat preparation is already booked.

Bagoong Fried Rice (Sinangag sa Bagoong)

We just attended a Sri Lankan wedding reception of an officemate and friend where we were served and have really consumed rather large quantities of spicy and tasty Sri Lankan dishes. Having a typical Filipino taste though, that is not quite exposed or accustomed to such heavily curried and spiced dishes; we immediately crave for some light Filipino dishes the following morning. Not only to fill the belly or satisfy the want, but to refresh our taste buds which suffered quite a beating from lots of chilies, curry and many other spices pretty normal for Sri Lankan and Indian dishes but alien to Filipino cuisine.

Finding some day-old leftover rice, we immediately thought of making Filipino fried rice or “sinangag” for our breakfast. Thinking with some fried eggs and dried fish from Cebu City, Philippines as viands, we are sure of having a wonderful morning meal to fuel us for the days work. Whilst simple garlic fried rice could well fulfill the requirement, we considered of making it more special and elaborate by preparing “bagoong” fried rice instead. With the authentic Filipino condiment “bagoong” or fish paste as the major flavoring ingredient, I thought what could be more Filipino food at the moment than this breakfast dish?

Arroz Caldo or Lugaw (Chicken Congee)

Rice congee is a type of rice porridge that is eaten in many Asian countries. The word congee is possibly derived from the Tamil word “kanji”. The dish is widely popular in Asia and even in some part of Europe. It is called by many names such as “kanda” in Sri Lanka, “canja” in Portugal, “pinjin” and “zhōu” in China, “bubur” in Indonesia, “ukayo” in Japan, “juk” in Korea, “chok” in Thailand, “chao” in Vietnam, “babaw” in Cambodia and “lugaw” or “lugao/lugau” in the Philippines. Rice congee is an ideal comfort food for the sick and elderly as it has a soothing effect. Apart from the fact that it can be easily consumed and digested, it is believed to have therapeutic or healing properties for the ill.

While there are many varieties of toppings and flavoring ingredients added to make different variations, chicken is probably the most common addition. In the Philippines the dish with chicken is called “Arroz Caldo”, obviously from the Spanish word “arroz” that means rice and “caldo” that refers to broth. However, please note that it is not a Spanish dish. The name was only adopted by the Spanish colonial settlers who patronized Chinese restaurants in the Philippines for easy reference.

Chinese Fried Rice or Yang Chow Fried Rice

When we are dining in a Chinese restaurant, there is a 90% chance that we will order Chinese fried rice along with my other preferred Chinese foods such as “Steamed Lapu-Lapu or Grouper”, “Sizzling Tofu”, “Chop Suey”, “Pata Tim or Pork Knuckle in Soya Sauce”, Spicy Cuttlefish, etc.. The delicious rice dish, also called Yang Chow Fried Rice, is just too good to be ignored even by the trying hard less-rice eater like me. :-)

Chinese Fried Rice originally called "Yeung Chow Fried Rice" or "Yang Zhou Chao Fan" is a popular Cantonese style wok fried rice dish served in most Chinese restaurants in North America, Australia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Although the ingredients is highly varied, depending on the availability and local produce, the staple items are day old cooked rice (though hot cooked rice prepared with less water is also okay), Chinese sausage or “lap leong”, slightly beaten eggs, chopped scallions or leeks, diced vegetables such as carrots and cooked green peas.

Adobo Garlic Fried Rice (Sinangag)

Cooking fried rice from leftover rice, especially garlic fried rice, is a regular thing to me back in the Philippines. I enjoy it better than steamed rice and it provides me with my most wonderful everyday meals. Simply pairing it with any fried viand – be it meat, cured meat, sausages, fish, dried fish or smoked fish, and along with a side dish of fried eggs or salted eggs and fresh tomato and it’s already a sumptuous meal for me. Actually, the same goes with my brothers, brothers-in-law, cousins and some sisters who always make requests for such humble meal whenever hungry strikes while we are engaged in some family activities.

Garlic fried rice is probably the most popular fried rice in the Philippines. Actually, when one mention fried rice in the Philippines, it generally refers to garlic fired rice. A simple concoction of mashed leftover day-old rice fried with mashed garlic in a small amount of oil and seasoned with some sea salt. The flavor and aroma of fried garlic is enough to transform the leftover rice into another dish probably more sought than the plain steamed rice.

Using the basic Filipino garlic rice recipe, I experimented a lot to combine some leftover meat dishes and seasonings to further enhance the flavor of the fried rice. I could say I am pretty successful with it because repeat requests became a regular thing and the dish was look forward by most of the family members. So whenever we have family gatherings, expect me to be cooking fried rice after the main feast or celebration, utilizing the leftover rice and leftover meat dishes. And I tell you; sometimes it’s more fun and satisfying.

The most common type of such fried rice I prepare is the adobo-garlic fried rice, with the pork adobo being a regular part of the family food preparation. So to be able to post the fried rice dish, I intentionally kept some adobo from my last post about the second version of my pork adobo.

It’s also a ggod timing for this post that we ran out of Jasmine rice and was forced to buy Pakistan rice. I find Jasmine rice extremely good as steamed but not quite for fried rice. Indian Basmati rice could ha been better but it’s not available from the neighborhood grocery. About a cup or less of the adobo meat is all we need for some 4 cups of day-old rice that I have.

The other ingredients needed are 2 tbsp vegetable oil, 8 gloves garlic, peeled and minced, 2/3 cup of pork adobo, roughly chopped, 1 tbsp seasoning either from Uncle “Knorr” or Auntie “Maggi”, 1 tsp salt or to taste and ½ small carrots, very finely minced.

The cooking procedure is very simple. In a large pan or wok, heat the oil and fry the garlic. When slightly browned, add in the chopped adobo meat and continue frying, until both are aromatic. It will show if the adobo is done good as it will smell good. Add seasoning, followed by the rice and continue frying on high heat stirring regularly. Mix everything properly and continue cooking for some 5 minutes more. Taste and add some salt if necessary.



When the rice is cooked through, add the minced carrots and stir once more. Cook for a minute more while stirring. Then, it’s done.


Transfer in large plate and serve immediately. The aroma of hot adobo-garlic fried rice, like my previous dried fish fried rice, is truly hard to resist. It’s the reason why I seldom cook this now that I’m far from the family and trying very hard to maintain a low-card diet. :-)

We ate the fried rice with sunny side up egg, fried “tuyo” (a popular type of Filipino dried fish, which is my and my daughter’s favorite) and some chopped fresh tomato and my low-card diet was thrown out of the window. :)

Enjoy ……..I did! c”,)

Dried Fish Fried Rice (Sinangag)

Just like the “Lechon Paksiw”, fried rice is another dish made from basically left over foods but is equally or to some extent even better than the original dish. Leftover rice and some vegetables, some leftover meat, Chinese sausage or seafood along with some aromatics can be fried together to create a unique rice dish, so good that often times it is more preferred than the plain steamed rice.

Fried rice is a popular component of Chinese food and other forms of Asian cuisine including the Philippines. It is made from rice fried in a large heavy pan or wok, typically with additional ingredients leftover from other dishes and other ingredients for the more elaborate Chinese type fried rice or as simple as just garlic and salt like the garlic fried rice of the Philippines called “sinangag”.

There are dozens of varieties of fried rice, each with its own specific list of ingredients. In Asia, the other famous varieties include Yangzhou and Fujian fried rice. In the West, Chinese restaurants catering to non-Chinese clientele have invented their own varieties of fried rice including egg fried rice, Singaporean (spicy) fried rice and the ubiquitous “special fried rice”.

Ingredients used in fried rice are greatly varied. They can include eggs, poultry, meat like beef and pork, vegetables like carrots, bean sprouts, celery, peas and corn, spices and peppers and soy sauce or sometime oyster sauce. It is often stir-fried in a pan or wok with vegetable oil or animal fat to prevent sticking, as well as for flavor. Onions, scallion and garlic add zest and extra flavor. It is popularly eaten either as an accompaniment to another dish, or as a course by itself.

In the Philippines, it is a popular breakfast meal typically served along with either fried “tapa” (cured meat similar to beef jerky) or “tocino” (sweet cured pork) or “longanisa” (a type of garlic sausage). For the affluent families, processed meat products such as hotdogs, sausages, luncheon meat, ham and bacon became favorite accompaniment. For the common masses fried “tinapa” (smoked fish) or “tuyo” and “daing” (dried fish) is the usual viand which I like better. In all instances it is usually eaten with fried eggs as well.

For this first “sinangag” post of mine, I decided to do a dried fish fried rice (I told you I like dried fish). The major ingredient we need is of course leftover rice. We have about 8 cups excess rice from our dinner yesterday which is perfect for the dish as it is not sticky. Mashed the rice to separate the grains and tossed with 1 tsp salt.

The other ingredients are 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 8 gloves garlic, peeled and minced, 1 small onion, peeled and chopped, 2 pcs tomatoes, chopped, 1 pc dried fish (“daing na bisugo”), slightly fried and flakes to small pieces discarding the bones and salt to taste.

The cooking procedure is very simple. In a large pan or wok, heat the oil and fry the garlic. When slightly browned, add in the onion and when translucent add the tomatoes. Continue sautéing for some 3 minutes. Add the dried fish flakes and continue cooking for 2 minutes further, until all the flavors are blended.

Add the rice and continue frying on high heat stirring regularly. Mix everything properly and continue cooking for some 5 minutes more. Taste and add some salt if necessary.

Transfer the fried rice in large plate and serve immediately. It is best while still smoking hot.

I ate this with sunny side up fried egg and fried dried boneless anchovies (“dilis”). It’s gorgeous and yes, very delicious. Enjoy! More rice please…… c”,)

Toasted Chili & Garlic

If you will ask the Filipinos living here in Sri Lanka of what are the most common or prevalent ingredients in the Sri Lankan cuisine, chances are they will all mention two things – chili and curry. Well, this is also true even from the perspectives of the majority of other nationalities that we met here over the last five years; Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, British, Australian, Singaporean and Chinese. The reason is that hot and spicy curries are the favorite dishes of Sri Lankan for lunch and dinner. Their rice and curry meal actually refers to a very wide range of Sri Lankan dishes but generally serve with a huge amount of chili.

As as result of our constant exposures to hot and spicy foods, especially with their yummy egg roll and fish bun which I featured before, their really hot chicken curry and their delectable fried rice which they served with chili paste, we somehow accustomed our taste to slightly hot foods. A few of us now even enjoy chili paste in our ordinary foods. In an attempt to make chili paste suited to Filipino taste, I made toasted chili-garlic in lieu of the paste. This is a very versatile condiment which we use with many Filipino dishes whenever we want a kick in our foods.

It goes well with noodle soups (“mami” and “sotanghon”), rice porridge (“goto” and “arrozcaldo”), meat stews (“linaga”, “bulalo”, “tinola”, “sinigang”, “balbacua”, etc.), egg drop soup, macaroni soups (“sopas”) and other creamy soups (mushroom and carrots) and a perfect accompaniment of soy sauce and lemon for dipping sauce of “siomai” and other dumplings. The possibilities are endless. In fact, if you have fried egg or meat, just mix it with steamed rice and you will have instant garlic rice (without the oil).

Cooking it is very simple. You just need 2 head garlic, peeled, crushed and minced, about 100 grams chili pieces, some salt to taste, about 3 tbsp vegetable oil and if you wish some crumpled chicken cube seasoning.

In a thick pan, heat about 2 tbsp of oil on medium heat. Fry the garlic until slightly brown. Stir it regularly for even frying. Never ever allow it to get burn.

Add the chili pieces and continue frying. Add the rest of the oil and continue stirring. Half way through, add about a tsp of salt and the crumpled chicken cube (optional). Continue frying until everything is slightly crispy and aromatic.

Transfer to a plate and let it cool. Store it in a tightly covered jar for later use. Enjoy!!! c“, )

Pusô, The Art of Cooking Rice

In addition to my recent post about the southern Philippines dish called “Balbacua”, let me share with you another specialty cuisine from the same Visayan region called “Pusô”. Please remember that the pronunciation is what we refer to in the Filipino language as “maragsa”. This is quite interesting because we can consider “Pusô” as the Filipino artistic way of preparing rice. Artistic because “Pusô” is cooking rice inside an individual packet of intricately woven young coconut leaf, resembling the size and shape of the human heart, the reason for its name. When cooked, the packet becomes its beautiful wrapper which could be hang inside the eateries and restaurants to be picked by customers when eating. That’s the reason why it is oftentimes referred to by visitors as “The Hanging Rice”.

Our friends from Cebu and Bohol happen to be skillful in making “Pusô”. So when the need for ready-cooked rice arises, we decided to prepare “Pusô”. We are so excited specially those from Luzon (Philippines) who will see how it is done for the first time. Yes that includes me, and I know right from the start that it will be full of fun.

The first requirement is finding a young coconut leaves. My good friend from Caloocan who has never eaten “Pusô” before was requested to gather the material. He excitedly obliged, but clueless as he is, it came out that the leaves he got are not young enough. It is already light green in color as oppose to the correct age with yellowish color. But since it is already getting dark and we failed to find any source from our backyard, we decided to use the leaves anyway. We just thought, having greener “Pusô” will not be bad at all.

After individually cleaning the leaves and separating them from the stick part, our friends from Cebu and Bohol commenced the elaborate intertwining of “Pusô” and the fun started.

It is really a sight to behold how such a creative hand produces the pretty packets one by one. It did not take long for two proficient “Pusô” makers to make more than 50 little packets. It sure is very difficult for me, for all of us from Luzon, but not for them. :)

The next step is to fill it up with rice grain. From the small opening on top, we carefully put some Jasmine rice inside up to the level just below the middle line. Filling it over that and it will result to quite tough rice. How did we know it? We sampled one, that’s why. After filling the right quantity of rice, it will be sealed by a few more interlacing and locking.

After we have completed filling all the more than 50 packets, we continue to the final step of cooking the rice. For those who cannot cook rice perfectly, this is for you. You don’t have to really watch over the quantity of water. Just fill the kettle with water halfway, have it boil then drop your uncooked “Pusô” about three at a time until the kettle is full. Cover and wait for 30 minutes.

No need to really bother about the level of heat for as long as the water is kept boiling. After 30 minutes the “Pusô” are aromatic and ready to be served. It sure looks greener than those in Cebu or Bohol, but I can assure you, it’s just as good.

It’s so easy, foolproof cooking you could say ……..for as long as you have friends who will do the weaving. It’s really fun to cook rice this way. It is distinctively delicious and perfect to be eaten with barbeque even without using plates and “adobo”, “dinuguan”, “humba”, “balbacua”, “paksiw”, “lechon”, etc. on the dining table. c“,)