à table!

Soupe de riz or rice porridge, we philippins, call this dish lugaw. It's called chicken arroz caldo when it's cooked with chicken, goto when cooked with beef or pork tripe. But I love it with both so I don't know how I'm going to call it. In the Philippines, this dish is considered a mid-afternoon snack. But for me and my family here in France, it's a lunch/dinner main course already and is considered a 'cold weather' dish.

Anyway, we had it for tonight's dinner. It's quite cold outside and my son had a craving for it. Why not? So, even though I already thought of having pot-au-feu for dinner, I went to the supermarket right away and bought the lacking ingredients. Good thing I always have a stock of Asian ingredients at home for it's not always evident the supermarket has them.

The main ingredients needed for this dish are rice (one part glutinous, one part regular), chicken/tripe, ginger, onion and patis (fish sauce). This is one of those dishes that takes time to prepare since this is served with cubes of boiled pork belly and fried tofu (bean curd) soaked in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and diced shallots. Chopped onion leaves and coriander are also added just before serving.

This dish has become one of my men's favorite plats philippins. Too bad Cléms is still in the process of getting used to its taste and always having a hard time finishing her bowl.