I know when I start to get homesick and eating “healthy” just isn’t making me feel any better, I turn to what I’m used to eating. Unfortunately, having food prepared by mom hasn’t been readily available in over 10 years. So I have tried to recreate certain dishes to sate that craving. It’s a simple dish and since most people are getting sick and it’s just a very homey dish that “feeds the soul.” That dish is called Arroz Caldo (aka: rice & chicken porridge.)

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Side note: Still working on the documenting the process of cooking. Sometimes I get so caught up in the prep and I start cooking that I forget to document from the start. Anyways, it’s pretty simple, like I said. This is pretty much halfway done.

I didn’t quite follow the recipe to the tee, to be honest. I pretty much just adjusted it to what I wanted it to be and used my taste memory of what my parent’s cooked it like. Also it didn’t come out “soupy” because the rice ended up absorbing the liquid so I would just have a side of the “broth” (or sabaw, what we say in Tagalog) and pour it on when I was ready to eat.

I also improvised and improved the dish to my liking. It’s important as one cooks, to make a dish that YOU would like to eat.. not necessarily for others. So for me, I like texture and flavor so I’ll do my best to add what I think will meld flavors together. I fried up some turkey bacon because I like the crunchy texture, especially when it comes to something soft. I prefer turkey bacon versus actual bacon because it’s less greasy and slightly healthier. I also added a boiled egg because it’s freaking good. Heh, I’M KIDDING! Nah, it’s what I grew up eating when my parents make this. We would eat this mostly for breakfast and so it coincidently pairs well with the turkey bacon! Also, the secret ingredient… citrus. Back home, we have our version of citrus called “calamansi” or I believe they call it “calamondin” here in the States. Unfortunately, these guys aren’t easily readily available for my beckon so I used lemons. Mmm, I tell ya.. when you eat this, it’s kind of hard to stop.

ARROZ CALDO: 👍🏼👍🏼

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👍🏼👍🏼 – Damn tasty; definitely will make again
👍🏼 – Good; will make again, eventually
👎🏼- Eh; may not make again.. might need adjustment
👎🏼👎🏼 – Ew; don’t like and will not make again