It’s the rainy season in the Philippines again.
No, it’s not just the time for typhoons and power interruptions due to thunderstorms and heavy rains. It’s also a time to sit back, relax, and enjoy our rainy day comfort foods!
These dishes are the perfect way to warm you up and fuel your working days this rainy season. Some of them can also help nourish us and keep us healthy this flu season.
So, without further ado, here are the nine popular rainy day comfort foods you should try to help you cope with rainy days while working remotely.
Lugaw.
Any list of rainy day comfort foods wouldn’t be complete without lugaw.
Besides being cheap and easy to make, it’s also goes well with almost anything from daing to pan de sal. There are also many versions of lugaw to choose from, such as goto, arroz caldo, champorado, etc.
Taste and variation aside, lugaw is one of the perfect recipes for rainy days because of its health benefits.
This rice porridge helps keep the body moist, which aids in digestion, and it’s surprisingly low in calories. The former is especially worth noting for people feeling sick or suffering from digestive problems.
Arroz Caldo.
Speaking of lugaw, one popular variant you should try on a cold, rainy morning is arroz caldo. Arroz caldo derives its name from the Spanish words for rice: “arroz” and broth: “caldo.”
It’s basically lugaw made with chicken, infused heavily with ginger, and garnished with toasted garlic, scallions, and black pepper. People often add calamansi, patis (Fish sauce), and hard-boiled eggs as well. Arroz caldo sometimes gets its distinctive yellow coloration from the addition of safflower.
If you’re under the weather, arroz caldo is the perfect rainy day comfort food to warm you up. The onions and scallions help cure allergies, colds, and sinus infections, and ginger helps expel pathogens and aid digestion.
Champorado.
This is a personal favorite among rainy day comfort foods. There’s no better way to warm yourself up during a rainy day than by eating a big bowl of champorado. It can be eaten during breakfast, lunch, or merienda, and it goes well with just about anything (okay, the last part’s just me being biased…).
Anyway, champorado is made from boiling malagkit (sticky) rice with tablea (traditional tablets of pure ground roasted cocoa beans). It’s usually served with evaporated milk. (Though in my case, I like to add condensed milk and tuyo.)
Ginataang Bilo-bilo.
Another popular merienda you should try out when its raining is ginataang bilo-bilo. Also known as ginataang halo-halo, it contains various ingredients, including sago, bilo-bilo (glutinous rice balls), coconut milk, and many more.
Because of how varied its ingredients are, it’s like the rainy season counterpart of everyone’s favorite halo-halo.
Sinigang.
Aside from being one of the primary contenders for the national dish of the Philippines, so much so that the Department of Trade and Tourism (DTI) has established standards for its recipe, sinigang is also a great dish when it rains.
Sinigang is a traditional Filipino stew or soup that has existed long before the Spaniards set foot here. Its main ingredients traditionally include fish, meat or seafood, vegetables, tomatoes, and tamarind as a souring agent.
Sinigang got its name from the Spanish verb “sigang,” which means “to stew.” Thus, sinigang means “to stew.”
Bulalo.
Another staple dish to warm you up this rainy season is the ever-popular bulalo.
Bulalo comprises beef shanks, vegetables, and delicious bone marrow cooked in beef broth. Having this as your lunch or dinner on a cold rainy day can help re-energize you at work.
If you plan on going to Tagaytay, you shouldn’t miss eating Bulalo at one of the many restaurants that specialize in such over there. However, I’ve always found that homemade bulalo recipes can be just as good as restaurant ones.
Ramen.
For those looking for something a little more exotic to try out the next time it rains, ramen might be the dish you’re looking for. Its combination of warm broth and noodles, fragrant aroma, and rich flavor makes it a popular rainy day comfort food for those craving noodles.
Another thing that makes ramen popular is the many variants that it comes in. You can also customize the kind of broth, toppings, and even the firmness of noodles!
However, if you haven’t got time to whip up a bowl from scratch, there are many variants of instant ramen available at the supermarket.
A Hot Cup of Chocolate or Coffee.
Sometimes, simple is best.
A warm cup of chocolate or coffee paired with your favorite kind of bread is a great way to start a rainy day. It’s simple to make, relatively cheap, and gives you that boost you need to power through the day.
One advantage of drinking hot chocolate or coffee is that you can pair it with the other snacks mentioned above. You can also come up with your own special blend and add milk, cream, cinnamon, whipped cream, and many more to your cup.
Sopas.
Another rainy day comfort food that’s popular with many Filipinos is sopas or macaroni soup. Sopas is the Filipino adaptation of the American chicken noodle soup. It’s made with elbow macaroni, various vegetables, and chicken, all in a creamy broth with condensed milk.
It’s relatively easy to make, so you can still make this while working at home. Sopas is also a great meal for when you’re sick, as it boosts your immune system and makes you feel hydrated and full.
Warm Meals for Cold Days.
As the days get colder and colder, we all want something to warm us up so we can continue functioning at our best. Fortunately, we have plenty of classic rainy day comfort foods, like the ones mentioned above, to choose from.
However, if you’re craving online jobs that won’t require you to commute while it’s raining cats and dogs, Remote Staff is here to help. Our jobs list has a wide range of available positions for you to choose from.
And if you don’t see the job you like today, you can check again tomorrow, as we constantly update it every day.
Good luck, and stay dry!
