Arroz caldo, toyomansi eggs, sweetcorn fritters and crispy garlic
Arroz caldo is a Filipino rice soup, served with a variety of toppings, such as boiled eggs, sweetcorn fritters, crispy garlic and, as here, some crisp and peppery corned beef.
Ingredients
For the arroz caldo
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion, finely sliced
- pinch salt
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1 thumb-sized piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
- 200g/7oz glutinous rice
- 400g tin cream of mushroom soup
- 1 chicken stock cube
- ½ tbsp soy sauce, plus extra to taste
- ½ tbsp fish sauce, plus extra to taste
For the toyomansi eggs
- 4 free-range eggs
- 4 tsp toyomansi
For the sweetcorn fritters
- 198g tin sweetcorn, drained
- 2 free-range eggs
- 2 tsp Thai red curry paste
- 80²µ/2¾´Ç³ú self-raising flour
- 4 fresh lime leaves, very finely chopped
- vegetable oil, for shallow frying
For the crispy garlic
- vegetable oil, for frying
- 10 garlic cloves, sliced
To serve
- 340g tin corned beef, roughly chopped
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1 lime, quartered
Method
Start by making the arroz caldo. Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Fry the onion in the oil with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes, until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further 2 minutes, until fragrant.
Add the glutinous rice to the pan, followed by the mushroom soup. Crumble the chicken stock cube into the empty tin and fill with hot water, stir to dissolve and then pour into the pan along with the soy and fish sauces. Stir, then leave to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently and adding more hot water from time to time if the soup is becoming too thick.
While the soup is cooking, prepare your toppings. For the toyomansi eggs, place the eggs in a small saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to stop them cooking further. Carefully peel and set aside.
For the sweetcorn fritters, put half of the corn kernels in a large bowl and the remaining half in a blender. Add the eggs and curry paste and blitz until smooth. Pour over the corn kernels and stir in the flour and lime leaves. Set aside.
To make the crispy garlic, add a good 1cm/½in of vegetable oil to a small frying pan and place over a medium heat. Add the garlic and stir until just beginning to colour. Remove from the heat and allow the residual heat to continue to cook the garlic until very light brown and crisp. Remove from the oil using a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
To cook the sweetcorn fritters, add 5mm/¼in of vegetable oil to a large frying pan over a medium–high heat and add ladles of the corn batter to make four round pancakes. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Put the corned beef into the frying pan over a medium–high heat, season with plenty of black pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the fat has rendered and the beef is coloured and crisping at the edges.
Season the arroz caldo to taste with more soy and fish sauce and divide among four bowls. Place a small pile of corned beef in the centre of each. Slice the eggs and fritters in half and place at the sides of the bowls; drizzle the toyomansi over the eggs. Add the crispy garlic, sliced spring onions and a lime wedge. Grind some more black pepper over the corned beef and serve.
