Rice, chicken and vegetables dish

This dish is actually a cross between a soup and lugaw (congee). Uncooked rice is added while the chicken cooks. The amount of rice, though, is much less than what is required to make lugaw.

Tomorrow is market day I only had two small chickens left in the freezer, each weighing less than a kilo. Since my kids are not particuarly fond of chicken breast meat, I decided I’d save the breasts for chicken salad which they can have for their packed sandwiches for school next week. But what remained of one small chicken after removing the breast would not have been enough for dinner. So I figured I’d cook both chickens minus the breasts. Two dishes to make dinner more exciting. This soupy dish and braised chicken were what we had for dinner earlier tonight. I used the backs of the chicken for the soupy dish, and the legs, thighs and wings for the saucy dish.

What’s the idea with the rice? Simple. We had leftover cooked rice from lunch. Not quite enough for four people. But I was too lazy to cook more rice for dinner. So, I wanted a soupy dish that would be a little more filling than usual to decrease the demand for steamed rice. That would make the leftover rice suffice for the four of us. Truth is, after dinner, there was about a tablespoonful or so of leftover steamed rice. Guess the rice, chicken and vegetables soup was indeed filling.

I only used patis and pepper to season this dish. Choosing cabbage and carrots was a good idea. The resulting broth had a hint of the natural sweetness of both vegetables.

Ingredients :

backs of two small chickens
half a cup of uncooked rice
1/2 head of cabbage
1 medium sized carrot
1 head of garlic
1 large white onion
patis
ground black pepper

Cooking procedure :

Peel and mince the garlic.

Peel and roughly chop the onion.

Chop the chicken into small pieces. Place in a casserole. Pour in enough water to cover. Add the minced garlic and chopped onion. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, removing any scum that rises. Add the uncooked rice and stir. Season with patis and pepper. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cut the half head of cabbage into four portions. Peel the carrot and dice.

When the chicken is tender and the rice is very soft, add the diced carrot and cabbage. Simmer for another ten minutes. Adjust the seasonings.

Serve hot.