REMING’S ARROZ CALDO

RICE PORRIDGE WITH CHICKEN

“Pafi Mike, it didn’t bagyo naman . . . ,” was how the orfans greeted me when I woke up this morning. Funny, but everyone in the ‘orfanage’ was kinda looking forward to a stronger-than-Milenyo thingy today! I also slept late last night and spent the early part of the morning looking outside the window as it rained cats and dogs, hoping to see trees being uprooted again. LOL!

When we received a notice from the village administration a few days ago about the arrival of typhoon Reming, everyone started preparing: the gardener propping-up small trees and shrubs, trimmed the large trees, and even covering the pool with tarp; the chef went on an unscheduled trip to the palengke to hoard foodstuff for the anticipated ‘wet’ long weekend. Late afternoon yesterday, the company mechanic did a dry-run on the generator and made sure everything else was in working condition in and around the orfanage.

And the orfans? Yesterday, amidst the frenzy of preparations for a company function next week, we did a bit of our own grocery run to buy foodstuff we thought we’d use to cook stormy day treats, and, as usual, ending up with two trolley-full of goodies!

Before everyone tucked themselves in last night, we all agreed to have ‘arroz caldo’ for breakfast. Today, as early as 7:30am, MamaNo was already busy in the kitchen with Yaya Vina preparing some of the arroz caldo ingredients for me to take photos of.

What makes this arroz caldo different are the two rice varieties used: Thai Jasmine Rice and malagkit. The malagkit [sticky] variety was already boiling in a large pot filled with enough water when I reached the kitchen with my camera and, still in my boxers! Halfway through the boiling process, the washed Jasmine Rice was added.

On a separate pot, some chopped chicken were brought to a boil until they were tender. The chicken meat was then removed from the bones, cubed, and added to a pan of sauteed garlic, onions, ginger strips, and seasoned with patis [fish sauce]. The saute mixture was then added to the cooked rice porridge and continued to simmer so that the flavours blended well.

For garnishing, MamaNo used fried garlic, chopped spring onions, and toasted kasubha which gives the porridge its reddish tint.

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