A little break from the norm. This Arroz Caldo is made with Steal Cut Oats and topped with veggies, popcorn chicken and the perfect jammy egg.
Arroz Caldo vs Lugaw
There are two versions of a rice porridge in the Philippines. One is closer to Congee, where rice is just boiled in water to make for a super simple meal. It can be eaten as is, if you are feeling under the weather and can’t keep anything down. You can also some soy sauce or boiled eggs for something more substantial.
Arroz Caldo on the other hands has more flavor cooked in and also a more hearty satisfying meal. Starting with frying the rice with the aromatics – ginger, garlic and onion. Then chicken is added in to get a quick sear before adding in the broth for all to come up to boil and cook together.
Why The Steal Cut Oats?
Short answer is my Doctor said I needed more fiber and steal cut oat is one of the best ways to get it through food. It also holds its bite, even when boiled for a long time, so it’s the perfect replacement to the traditional rice.
How to Make Steal Cut Oats Arroz Caldo
In this version of Arroz Caldo I add more veggies like sauteed spinach and roasted delicata squash. If you still have leftovers from Thanksgiving, this is another way to use it up in a different way. To give the it a little zing I added some picked ginger beets.
To make it more hearty and to add a crunchy texture I took out the boiled chicken from the broth and cut it into small pieces seasoned it with salt and pepper. Putting it in the airfyer for 15 minutes makes it super crispy and almost popcorn like. Last but not least it’s finished with the perfect jammy egg.
How to Make the Perfect Jammy Egg
Ahh jammy egg. It’s super easy to do right. I like to get the pot of water into a running boil and turning it down just a touch. Then making sure you drop in the eggs slowly one by one. I like to use a slotted spoon to bring it all the way to the water and then doing a slow pull away. You leave it to cook for 7 minutes then transfer the eggs into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking.
Lemon and Pepper
One of the key flavor profiles that make Arroz Caldo different is the abundance of kalamansi juice, soy sauce and black pepper. I don’t know if it’s just the way we eat it in our family, but we get quite heavy handed with the black pepper. I know that kalamansi juice is pretty hard to find, so fresh squeezed lemon is a great alternative. You can also swap out the soy sauce for coconut aminos if you are looking for something with no soy or lower in sodium.
There you go a little something different for the cold winter months.
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