Ghetto Fabulous Gutu

I was home with achy bones and watery eyes today. I felt too yucky to run out to the grocery store for provisions but I wanted something hot, soupy but substantive in my tummy. I wanted gutu, which is a typical Filipino rice porridge. (In some regions of the Philippines, the recipe you're about his read is referred to as Arroz Caldo.) Whatever it's called, it's comfort food to me.

Unfortunately, I didn't have chicken broth in the pantry today. Boo. But what I did have sufficed. I worked some poor Pinay magic with leftover white rice from back-to-back dinner outings to Happy Garden Restaurant and Phnom Penh Restaurant, and the remainder of a peppered roast chicken from Farmer Joe's Market from which my friend Dre yanked off the drumsticks and I took some of the breast meat. Could have fed a family of four two days ago.

Waste the take out rice, go straight to purgatory

My dad was told as a child by his dad that "every grain of rice you waste is a day in hell". Scary thing for a little Catholic boy to hear but he grew up in the Philippines during World War II and the Japanese occupation so everyone in his microcosm had to utilize every little bit available to them. Well, I'll probably be somewhere in the queue to Hades right behind and right in front of some of you, dear readers, but not for wasting food. At least, I'll be in Filipino comfort food heaven today.

Ghetto Fabulous Gutu

Remaining carcass of a store-bought roast chicken (great if you're only missing the drumsticks)
Leftover take-out white rice (about 4 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1/4 cup minced ginger (or more if you love ginger)
1 bay leaf
3 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 Tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 tsp dark sesame seed oil
water

Garlic, ginger, bay leaf from Tatay's tree, & shallots

Place your chicken carcass in the post and cover with enough water to nearly cover the chicken. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes then reduce heat to medium low. Add the garlic, shallots, ginger, salt, pepper, bay leaf and sesame oil. Simmer for about 45 minutes or until meat and skin fall off the bones. Remove from heat.

Allow the broth to cool for about 30 minutes. Remove bones, cartilage, and skin from broth. If you like, you can chop up the skin then reintroduce it to the broth. (I'm going to give the skin to Tubby, the cat whose meows sound like a complaining billy goat.) You can use a small strainer to remove some of the remaining fat as well.

Tubby, the Cat Goat

Turn the heat back on to medium high and bring the broth to a gentle boil. Add the rice and allow it to boil for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for another 30 minutes on low, stirring often so the gutu won't burn at the bottom of the pot.

Serve piping hot. If you like, add a drop of sesame seed oil, more cracked pepper, and for color and a different layer of flavor, add some coarsely chopped cilantro. I like!

Makes about 8 servings or just one for me when I feel crappy.