Arroz Caldo

Soup season recipes continue!!!! Arroz Caldo is a Filipino chicken and rice soup. One of my favorite growing up and still today. If you follow me on Instagram, then you may or may not have saw my story of the delicious bowl I created. But I mentioned there is funny story behind it. Not only did I try a new soup recipe myself, but I had the brilliant idea of “let’s make it in the rice cooker.” It was the first time I ever used my rice cooker for something other than rice LOL. In the end, it did turn out pretty good! Not as good as my dad’s – but I ate it all with no problem, so overall a success.

I had my mom send me her recipe of when she does the quick version in the insta pot for a reference. But let me tell you, an insta port and rice cooker are not the same! LOL Now my rice cooker has other settings/buttons, one including ‘soup’. So I pulled out the manual to help determine what to do and how long I should cook it. Well it wasn’t helpful, at all… My cook time options were by the hour anywhere between 2 and 8 hours. Not helpful because Mom’s insta pot recipe was around 30 minutes. As you can see, I was off to a great start.

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I heated a pan with oil and sautéed chopped onions, garlic and ginger for a few minutes. I season with salt, pepper and some adobo seasoning. Once done, I added it in my rice cooker.  This recipe calls for chicken, but I forgot to take that out of the freezer, so I did without the meat (just another factor in this crazy soup story). I then added 6 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of rice, salt, pepper, soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. I mixed until well combined. I set my rice cooker to the lowest soup setting of 2 hours. Mom, suggested that I check it after 1 hour, thinking it wouldn’t be as fast as the insta pot, but not as slow as the slow cooker settings. The manual mentioned that you could check the soup and stir, so that is way I planned. Well, did you know that it helps if you actually hit start! 🤦🏽‍♀️ 45 minutes go by and I wanted to check on it to make sure the rice was sticking to the bottom – but it wasn’t even cooking. 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

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So take two, I set the soup setting to 2 hours and set my time to 1 hour. After about 30 minutes, I could hear and see the steam releasing from the cooker, so I indeed did it right this time. 😆 I checked on it and gave it a stir and it actually looked pretty good. I checked again after it had been 45 minutes, and my rice was pretty soft, but all my liquid had vanished! I FaceTime mom in a panic … as if I wasn’t already have enough trouble making this “simple” recipe. She suggested adding more water or chicken broth and I did both. I heated 2 cups of water and dropped a magi bouillon cube to make a quick both. I first dropped a tomato chicken cube had to quick remove it and drop just a plain chicken cube. I stirred until it dissolved and then added it to the soup. I combined it all together and it was still a bit too thick. So I added 2 more cups of water, salt, pepper and fish sauce. I stirred until all was combined and closed the rice cooker for about 10 more minutes.

It came out a bit thicker than I had hoped. But at the same time I didn’t mind. It tasted great and I had no problems eating it. Dad usually had hard boil eggs with the soup, but I added a quick poached egg because I prefer them gooey! I also topped it with some pan fried pork belly, and seaweed strips for added crunch. Though it was a journey to get here, I would definitely make this soup again! Notes to self … I need at least 8-10 cups of liquid for 2 cups of rice and take chicken out of the freezer at least the night before or morning of LOL. I am determine to make the next time, easier and better! Any tips or suggestions – I am all ears!

Live to Eat,
Tiv