I woke up feeling a little under the weather today. I wasn’t surprised at all as some winter virus has infected almost every single one of my family members since just before Christmas. Of course my turn happens to be the day before I go back to work. I can’t stand being sick, so with a little nudge from my husband I decided to go to the doctor. I am now on 3 different kinds of medication guaranteed to fix me in no time.

As I curled up in a blanket on my comfy recliner with a book, waiting for the meds to kick in, I felt a sudden homesickness for the cooking of my mother and grandmothers. These women had a way of driving away pain and sickness with their food. Whether it be the rice noodle and squash soup that is perfect after a painful visit to the dentist, the creamy chicken noodle soup that can heal broken hearts, or the rice porridge with hardboiled egg and ginger to make you feel whole again, all of it works perhaps even better than z-pack and antibiotics at times. So I decided I would make one of the legendary family dishes that cures all ailments, in the hopes that it will have the same effect if I made it. We had some left over turkey from a roast that I made yesterday, so the first thing that came to mind was to make lugaw. It’s a rice porridge that I can never get enough of.

Lugaw is my favorite. It is so simple, and yet can be so good. It’s really about the broth and the toppings. It is considered poor people’s food in the Philippines because it is made mainly of rice and both, but it can be elevated with the addition of toppings like pork rinds or egg. I have served this dish at one of my Pinoy pop-up restaurants, as well as parties I’ve catered, and it is always a total hit. I will make this dish a mainstay when I open my Cali-Pino restaurant because I’ve always felt loved when my Grandmothers or Mom made this for me.

Leftover Turkey and Egg Lugaw

Serves 4

1-tablespoon canola oil

¼ of white onions small diced

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 tablespoon peeled and finely chopped ginger

1 ½ cups jasmine rice or short grain rice

1 qt chicken broth

1 cup pulled cooked turkey meat or chicken

Salt and pepper to taste

A pinch of saffron (optional)

Toppings:

Chopped scallions

Hardboiled egg

Crispy onion

Other Favorite Toppings:

Pressed Tofu

Fried Chicken Livers

Chopped pork rinds

Direction:

Place the soup pot on medium heat and the add oil. Once the oil is hot add the chopped onions and sauté for 1 minute; add the garlic and ginger and sauté just until fragrant; add the rice, cook for about two minutes coating the rice with oil. Add the broth to the rice and stir, making sure that the rice isn’t stuck to the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer until the rice is cooked, checking every five minutes, stirring, making sure that there is plenty of broth and the rice is not sticking to the pan. Add the cooked turkey to the porridge and season with salt and pepper. Serve while hot and top with whatever you want!