Vegan Arroz Caldo Recipe – There are many dishes that can be considered comfort food in Filipino cuisine. One of them is Arroz Caldo. Arroz Caldo is a type of rice porridge/gruel. It is heavily infused with ginger and garnished with toasted garlic, scallions, and black pepper. When cooking the dish, glutinous rice (malagkit) is typically used, but regular rice boiled with an excess of water is optional. In addition, it usually has chicken in it and gets served with calamansi or fish sauce (patis) as condiments, as well as a hard-boiled egg.
A prominent feature in most versions of Arroz Caldo is its yellow color. This is because of the safflower added. Some more expensive versions of the dish use saffron while others use tumeric. As delicious as the dish is, the original dish is not usually vegan-friendly. There are, however, different ways to make the dish vegan and one way is this recipe:
Vegan Arroz Caldo
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 green onions chopped with green and white parts separated
- 1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 3 chunks
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 ounces vegan chicken cut into small pieces (we used Daring)
- 6 cups vegan chicken broth
- Optional: 1 tablespoon vegan fish sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup glutinous sweet rice malagkit
- Salt to taste
- Calamansi lemon or lime
- Crispy Fried Garlic Bits
- 1/3 cup oil
- 6 cloves garlic minced
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil. Once heated, add the bay leaf and fry until golden.
- Add onions, garlic, white and light parts of the green onion, ginger and red pepper flakes. Cook until the onions are soft and the garlic is fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the vegan chicken and cook until it begins to brown, about 4 minutes. If the vegan chicken is in large chunks, use kitchen shears to finely cut it in the pot.
- Add the vegan chicken broth, vegan fish sauce, black pepper, and rice. Stir and bring to a boil, lower to simmer, and cover. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom to prevent the rice from sticking, until the rice is creamy.
- As the rice cooks, make the crispy garlic. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a small heat-proof bowl or cup. Heat oil in a small pan. Once heated, add in the garlic and fry until it is golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Immediately pour the mixture through the strainer, then transfer the crispy garlic to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.
- Once the arroz caldo has finished cooking, remove and discard the bay leaf and ginger slices. Add salt if desired.
- Serve topped with crispy garlic, scallion greens, and calamansi wedges.
Other Notes for a Vegan Arroz Caldo Recipe
While there is vegan chicken and vegan chicken broth, there are other ways to make this gruel dish vegan. An alternative you can use for the chicken is mushroom or tofu. In addition to a vegan option, there are several variations of this dish. In one region, frog legs are used for protein. Another form of this dish is called Got. It is similar to arroz caldo, but rather than heavily featuring ginger, it uses beef tripe that has been soaked and boiled for hours until very tender. It is also known as arroz caldo con goto or arroz con goto, from Tagalog goto (“tripe”).
If you are interested in other Filipino vegan, check out our “Vegan Kare Kare Recipe” and “Eggplant Adobo Recipe.“
