Chicken Chalakiles
Chicken Chalakiles is one of my favorite Chamorro comfort foods. It’s a soup made with chicken, onions and garlic, thickened with toasted ground rice, and made even more rich with the addition of coconut milk.
Chalakiles can be served as your main dish or as a soup served before your entrée.
I make my Chalakiles the way my mom taught me — with freshly toasted and ground rice. A quick and easy substitute is to use Cream of Rice instead. Toasting rice is easy. Place the rice in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until the rice turns golden brown, stirring constantly to prevent any rice from over-browning (and burning).
Let the rice cool for a few minutes then place in a food processor (I have a mini food chopper/grinder that works well).
Grind the rice into a mixture that looks like cornmeal. A few large pieces of rice is okay; it will add texture to your Chalakiles once cooked. Set the ground rice aside.
Place your chicken into a large soup pot. You can cut the chicken to your desired size. I diced them small here so that we could have more of a soup. My mom would use chicken drummettes or leave the chicken pieces whole if we served this as a meal. She’d make it more on the soupy side as well so that we could also serve this with some steamed rice. Cook the chicken with onions, garlic, coconut oil and black pepper.
Once the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, add chicken broth (or water and chicken seasoning), achote powder, and the ground toasted rice.
Bring the mixture to a boil; cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes (keep the pot uncovered). Stirring occasionally to prevent the rice from settling and sticking to the bottom of the pot.
This is what the Chalakiles looks like after the rice is done. The mixture is quite thick at this point, but will thin down once you stir in the coconut milk.
Stir in the coconut milk. Cook for another couple of minutes, just long enough to heat up the mixture after adding the milk. Remove from the heat.
If you want a thinner soup, either add more water or another can of coconut milk. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking.
My recipe makes enough for a family of four plus enough leftover for lunch the next day. Serve and ENJOY!
- 2 cups uncooked rice
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
- 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
- 1 med onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons chicken seasoning*
- 10 cups water*
- 1 packet achote powder
- 1 can (14-oz) coconut milk
- Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
*Note: You can use chicken broth instead of water; omit the water AND chicken seasoning if using chicken broth.
- Place the uncooked rice in a skillet over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the rice is evenly browned, stirring occasionally to ensure even browning. Let the toasted rice cool then grind in a food processor until you get the consistency of cornmeal. Set aside.
- Place the chicken, onion, garlic, coconut oil and black pepper into a large soup pot. Cook over medium heat until the chicken is no longer pink.
- Add the chicken seasoning, water, achote powder and ground rice to the pot. Stir to combine the ingredients then bring the mixture to a boil. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the coconut milk; cook for a couple of minutes then remove from the heat.
When I add the coconut milk, it gave it this consistency I dont remember eating as a kid, it made the whole soup creamy, I think id hold off on the coconut milk next time and just use the coconut to saute instead
Coconut milk is totally optional in this. Growing up, we usually made it without as well.
I do not live on the island of Guam. where can i buy achote powder? SeaFood City? Asian Markets? Regular Grocery stores?
You should be able to find it at most Asian markets.
Hi Annie
I’m craving this kind of familiar conform food back in my old times; thank you for the recipe
Q: can I use pork rather than chicken.
Thanks
Helena (Rhode Island)
What about using corn meal instead of ground rice?
Cornmeal will give it the right consistency, but may affect the flavor that ground toasted rice gives the dish.
Hi Annie, can I also use this recipe for empañada filling of course with using less liquid?
You can, yes. You could also add more ground rice to it as well.
Can you sub for brown rice ?
Yes, you sure can. You may need to cook your chalakilis longer, but it will turn out just fine with brown rice.
I always use brown rice and it is perfect; no alterations necessary. Thank you Annie for so generously sharing all your recipes. The ratios are perfect!
Hi Annie, this recipe was right on point! My son was holding his first bbq and his wife made this dish but accidentally dumped a can of corn in this pot instead of the other pot on the stove…let me tell you, she got sooo many compliments for her Chalakilis! So, I guess if you want more texture, you can add a can of corn.
Wow! I love how an accident turns into a great thing! The corn addition sounds delicious; I’m going to have to try it. Thanks for stopping by!
Hello was wondering what type of rice did u use? Thank u for sharing
I used medium grain rice.
can we use grits instead of rice
Traditional Chalakiles uses ground rice, but if you prefer grits, that’s perfectly fine.
We made this for dinner after a rainy day on Guam and it was a hit! The kids loved it! Thank you for sharing! We will surely be making this again!
Thanks! I’m glad you all loved it!
Do I have to put coconut milk or can I substitute it with something else?
You don’t have to put coconut milk at all. If the chalakiles is too thick, add water or chicken broth instead of the milk.
Si Yu’us Maåse for responding so quick because I’m actually making this for the 1st time right now 🙂 I love your recipes and I use them all the time!
You’re welcome! Thanks for trying my recipes! Let me know how your chalakiles turns out.
If not using ground rice, how many cups of cream of rice?
Use the same amount of cream of rice that is specified for ground rice.
COULD YOU PLEASE TELL ME HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN 80Z OF THIS DISH?
I’m sorry, Iris. I don’t have any of the nutritional information broken down for this dish, so I can’t provide a calorie count.
Thank you for sharing your recipes!! I had a general idea of how to make this dish, but never attempted. I used your recipe and nailed it at my first try!! Thank you again!! 🙂
Yay! I’m happy to hear that. 🙂
Annie,
I tried your recipe for chalaklas. It was the best!!!
Thanks
Michael from Mangilao
Thanks, Michael! I’m glad you liked it!
hi annie!!!
im on your blog all the time and it always makes me hungry.but i love all your recipes im actually going to try your lumpia and shrimp patties 🙂 ive been making red rice and chicken kelaguen actually with some easier steps and it actually turned out good 🙂 now i wanna learn other recipes. so i will try them and this recipe as well. so i do have a question what if i dont have a grinder what else can i do?
thank you
shirley
Sorry disregard my comment. I was looking at the picture and reading the caption the read the direction at the bottom. I went ahead of myself. LOL.
Hi Connie! Thank you for that catch! I’ve updated my step-by-step instructions, fixing it to state when to add the achote powder.
Do you add the achote powder with the water, seasoning and rice?