Red Rice Lugaw

Red Rice Lugaw is a variation of my favorite breakfast and snack food lugaw. Lugaw or porridge is so easy to do. You can add any kind of meat of your choice. That is, beef, chicken and pork.

All you have to do is sauté the ginger, garlic, onion and meat. Then add the glutinous rice and water and that’s it. Of course you need to season it with fish sauce and ground black pepper. A drizzle of calamansi juice will really make this dish outstanding.

Red Rice Lugaw is unusual. Lugaw is usually made of glutinous rice which gives this dish a thick broth. And red rice won’t give you that result. But This morning, I woke up craving for lugaw and all we have is red rice. How will I thicken the broth? The first thing that will come to our mind is flour or cornstarch. But these gives an unusual aftertaste.

Luckily, I have glutinous rice flour which I used in my palitaw recipe. So, I scooped 1/4 cup of it and dispersed it in water. When the red rice is soft and cooked, I mixed it in and the broth thickened so quickly.

I only used about 100 grams of chicken since it is the only decent meat available in our fridge but you can generously add more meat as you want. Since I used less chicken meat, I decided to garnish it with chicharron which my mom brought home last night. I know it’s sinful but it’s really tasty. And the chicharon really gives this crunchy texture in contrast to the soft texture of the porridge.

Tips

For a healthier version, you can use rolled oats instead of rice and tofu instead of meat. You can check out my Tofu and Oatmeal Porridge for the recipe.

A Sad and Long Day

This Red Rice Lugaw is a tribute to our lola or grandmother who just passed away today. We were supposed to visit her this morning but sadly we did not make it in time. She died before we arrived. And lugaw is her favorite meal to it.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons	Olive Oil
2 pieces	Thumb – sized Ginger, slivered
8 cloves	Garlic, chopped
1 bulb	Onion, chopped
100 grams	Chicken, chopped
1 Tablespoon	Fish Sauce
1/8 teaspoon	Ground Black Pepper
1 1/2 cups	Red Rice, washed
5 – 6 cups	Water
2 pieces	Beef Bouillon Cubes
1/4 cup	Glutinous Rice Powder
1/2 cup	Water
	Fish Sauce
	Ground Black Pepper
	Onion Chives, chopped
	Hard Boiled Eggs
	Chicharon

Procedure

Saute ginger, onion and garlic in olive oil.

Stir fry the chopped chicken and season with fish sauce and ground black pepper.

Add the red rice, 4 cups of water and bouillon cubes. Stir from time to time until the red rice is soft and cooked. Add more water if needed.

Combine glutinous rice powder and water. Mixed into the porridge and stir quickly.

Season with fish sauce and ground black pepper.

Garnish with onion chives, hard boiled eggs and chicharon.