A few months back, I posted two different recipes: Arroz Caldo and Mean & Lean Healthy Burger. Recently, I’ve felt that my weight is starting to creep back in or that my lack of exercise and training has lead me to deposit unwanted fat. So last week, I altered my Arroz Caldo recipe. Instead of using regular white rice (which I normally don’t eat), I changed it and used brown rice. I would not dare using red rice because it might end up looking like champorado! Haha! The result? A healthy and fiber rich snack/meal that tastes just as great! It’s also one way to carbo load before training or a race or as a recovery meal. It has the 60-40 carb-protien ratio. Just add more chicken. [Altered recipe at the end of this post]

The second recipe I altered was my Mean & Lean Healthy Burger. There are a lot of people who like burgers but then there are those who don’t eat, or at least try to stay away from beef and pork. Like Tricia C. who says that she doesn’t eat beef and pork… but eats crispy pata when she’s drunk! Haha! So to people like Tricia or other pescetarians out there (fish and chicken eaters), I subsituted the lean ground beef with ground chicken breast. [Altered recipe at the end of this post]

FIBER RICH ARROZ CALDO (uses brown rice)

Ingredients:

10 cups water
3/4 cup malagkit rice
3/4 cup brown rice
2 medium sized onions sliced
1 tbsp sliced ginger
2 tsp ground/coarse black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cube Knorr ® chicken broth (you can use real chicken stock, like I do)
2 tsp of Kasuba
2-3pcs chicken breasts cut into small cubes (depending on size)

First, boil the 6-7 cups of water. Once boiling, put in the onions, ginger, pepper, salt and 1 chicken broth cube. Make it boil for about 5 mins. Then put in the chicken breast cubes into the pot. Wait about 2-3 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Then using a strainer, take the chicken out (you don’t want your stock to be malangsa). Set it aside.

Afterwards, put in the 3/4 cup of malgkit rice and 3/4 cup of plain rice. Stir. Set the stove on low heat. Cover the pot and let the rice cook for 15 mins. It takes the brown rice to cook a little longer than regular white rice.

Check on the rice if it’s ready, but around this time, it’s still kinda hard. Stir the rice, which now looks more like porridge. At this point, add another cup of water. Let it simmer for another 10 mins.

Now, you can put in the chicken breast cubes back into the mix. Put in the Kasuba to give the porridge the distinctive yellow color. Add another cup of water and let the Arroz Caldo stand for another 10 mins.

gourmet chicken & mushroom burger

Ingredients:

500g ground chicken (You can opt to use purely ground chicken breast, since they usually grind the white and dark meat together to come up with ground chicken)
1 large onion minced
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano leaves (not oregano powder)
2 tsp ground black pepper (not powder)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Knorr® seasoning (or Magi Savor®)
1 tbsp Lea & Perrins® Worcestershire Sauce1 tbsp Soy sauce
1 egg beaten
2-3 tsp red chilli pepper flakes (optional, for those who like it spicy or with a bite)
3 tbsp diced mushrooms (can be champignons, shitake, etc.)

Preparation:
In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, pepper, salt, chilli pepper flakes, mushrooms) and the Knorr®, the Lea & Perrins® and soy sauce. Mix them well. Add the lean ground chicken (make sure they’re not frozen. It’s better if they come straight from the meat shop) and minced onion. Mix them a bit. Add the beaten egg. What I do is I put on surgical gloves then use my hands to mix everything to make sure that it’s mixed well. It would be best to have all the spices found in all parts of the burger. After that, shape them and then grill.