I’ve been told many times over that chicken arrozcaldo isn’t as popular in a lot of provinces as it is in Manila. Outside the metro, it is usually served when somebody is sick or not feeling well. It’s not something you may order outside their homes. Quite the opposite here in Manila where you find it from the posh five-star hotels down to the most modest eatery at any given place. Chicken arrozcaldo is a favorite– anywhere, anytime.
The classic way of preparing chicken arrozcaldo would be using chicken choice cuts, bone-in and all. In my version, I already pre-boil and shred chicken that would be mixed in with the rice. I guess am too lazy to trim off meat from the bones while it’s immersed in the arrozcaldo–too messy.
Over at the Yrastorza household, chicken arrozcaldo is quite a staple viand on the dining table– sick or not, we all eat this like crazy. One of the many heirloom recipes from Mom, we never eat this without the ‘budbod’ of dahon ng sibuyas and roasted garlic. Eating this without the two would be like having your kare-kare without the bagoong or something like that. The concept of having condiments to go with it is enough excitement for me. Super love!
Chicken Arrozcaldo
1 whole breast of chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper, boiled and shredded
2 cups uncooked malagkit rice
two thumb-sized ginger, sliced
1/2 cup dahon ng sibuyas, chopped
2 heads of garlic, finely minced
2 tbsps fish sauce (patis)
1/4 tsp kasubha
6 pcs calamansi, halved
salt and pepper to taste
oil
1 liter chicken stock (from the boiled chicken)
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Saute garlic in oil until golden brown. Drain excess oil. Set aside in a small container.
Meantime, in a casserole, saute ginger and onion. Add chicken and malagkit rice. Stir for about a minute until rice grains are well coated. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock.
Cook until rice is tender. Make sure you constantly stir the arrozcaldo while it cooks. You may add chicken stock or water to adjust consistency.
Finally, add kasubha. Continue stirring for the next 3 minutes.
Serve hot with the condiments (dahon ng sibuyas, roasted garlic, calamansi and pamintang durog) on the side.
The Eating Room 
mmmm…comfort food 🙂 in cebu, we call this pospas. growing up, we always had this and the chinese congee almost weekly. thanks for posting, caren 🙂
Yeah, dad called his lugaw as pospas also. Thanks for swinging by the eating room, Molly!
hey caren! i’ve always been a fan of arozcaldo. whenever we were sick my mom would have arozcaldo for us, so it was “kinda” fun to be sick because of that. i think we should have arozcaldo all the time — sick or not!
Hi, Crickette! Got excited finding you here! Thanks! See you soon!