Ginisang Ampalaya with Liver, Chicken Arroz Caldo

I found out what's wrong with my cooking:  I put too much oil, I put too much spice, and I put too many different spices.

The reason why my garlic pork was a hit the previous day, was that I just zeroed in on one spice: garlic.  There was nothing to compete with the taste (though I mistakenly put some bay leaf on it while cooking but took it out just in time before its taste diffused on the dish... I forgot to tell you this last time).

Anyway, today I cooked ginisang ampalaya with liver, and since we're having a rainy weather, I thought of making arroz caldo.  I've been wanting to make arroz caldo con pollo (rice chicken soup) since last week but the weather was not conducive and there were no chicken in the ref.

The choice of ginisang ampalaya with liver was a different story.  The pig liver was a leftover from last week's grocery, and the ampalaya (bitter melon) seems out of place in the ref as I don't have any idea what to cook it with.

I fried the pig liver in old oil and some soy sauce, drained it, then set it aside.  In a new pan, I sauteed the sliced ampalaya and some onion and garlic in oil and water. I added some ginisa flavor mix to taste.  I know the dish is cooked when the onion and ampalaya became transparent.  That's it.

Ginisang ampalaya with pig liver.  Picture taken using iPod touch.

The problem with cooking ampalaya is its bitter taste.  Some soak the vegetable in water and salt to remove some of its bitterness.  Of course I didn't do it, so the dish is a bit bitter.  The pig liver is cooked nice though -- that's saying a lot because I normally don't like liver.

Arroz caldo is also simple but too long to cook.  I cooked some chicken in copious amount of ginger.  The secret to a good arroz caldo is lots of ginger.  After the chicken is cooked, I added some chopped shallots and then the washed rice and enough water.  I cooked the dish initially on high heat to boil then medium heat and stirring a lot in between.  I added ground pepper, garlic powder, chicken powder, salt and ginisa flavor mix to taste. Cook the rice into soupy consistency and your done.

Simple chicken arroz caldo.  Picture taken using iPod touch. 

Yup.  The secret to a good arroz caldo is ginger.  The problem here is that I put too much ginger and ground pepper again.  It was spicy hot, best for people with colds or burnt tongue. There was also this smell of burnt artificial chicken flavor. And then I was only able to taste chicken when I bite on the meat.

Another problem in cooking arroz caldo is the choice of rice.  Sticky rice is much preferred, but since I used a low grade rice, even though it's cooked, it will never be as soft as if I used glutinous rice.  Oh well.