A thick, golden chicken-ginger rice porridge topped with toasted garlic, scallions, hard-boiled eggs, and a squeeze of calamansi — the ultimate Filipino rainy-day comfort bowl.
Ingredients
500g chicken thighs, bone-in
1 cup glutinous rice (malagkit)
3 tbsp fresh ginger, julienned
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (plus 4 cloves sliced for topping)
1 tbsp fish sauce
6 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 hard-boiled eggs, halved
Scallions, sliced
Fried garlic
Calamansi halves
Black pepper
Saffron or turmeric for color
Instructions
1Heat oil in a large pot. Sauté ginger, onion, and minced garlic until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
2Add chicken thighs and sear lightly on both sides, about 3 minutes.
3Add rice and stir to coat in the aromatics. Pour in chicken broth and fish sauce.
4Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice breaks down into porridge.
5Remove chicken, shred the meat off the bones, and return shredded chicken to the pot. Add turmeric for golden color.
6Ladle into bowls. Top with hard-boiled egg halves, fried garlic, scallions, black pepper, and calamansi.
Did You Know?
Arroz caldo literally means "rice broth" in Spanish, but the dish is actually a Filipino adaptation of Chinese congee that acquired a Spanish name during the colonial period.