Chicken Adobo

Good enough to be called the Philippines' national dish!

Image from myrecipes.com

I've got a lot of Filipino love :)  Lots of Filipino friends, involvement in the Pilipino Student Association (by proxy - my roommate was the president), one of my favorite mentors is a Filipina physician, and of course, Mikey is Filipino.  Not only do I love Filipinos, I love Filipino food.  First time I had a bite, was love at first taste.  It was home cooking at its finest - not very complex, but so good you have to come back for seconds and thirds. 

A few days ago, Mike and I decided that we needed some comfort food so Mike cooked chicken adobo for me.  Adobo refers to a method of cooking where meat is browned and simmered in a marinade.  There are many different ways to prepare adobo and it is different depending on where you are in the Philippines. Some places add coconut milk, some use pork or seafood, and some use a lot of vinegar. Classically though, adobo is slowly cooked in vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns, and soy sauce then often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterward to get the desirable crisped edges.  Here's Mike's take on chicken adobo: 

 Image from somewhereintheworldtoday.com

Chicken Adobo
Serves 4 
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Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks

5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

1/3 cup white vinegar (or you can use apple cider vinegar)

2/3 cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium dutch oven or similar pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes, then turn over and cook an additional 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic and cook for approximately 5 more minutes. Stir to avoid burning the garlic.  Spread chicken so it makes one even layer in the bottom of the dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients and stir to incorporate. The sauce should come halfway up the chicken Cook on medium heat, covered, for 20 minutes.  Gently stir every 5-10 minutes to ensure that all of the chicken has some time to cook in the sauce.

3. Uncover, decrease heat to medium-low and cook 15 to 20 minutes more, occasionally spooning sauce over chicken, until sauce thickens a bit and chicken is tender and nicely glazed with sauce. Remove bay leaf before eating.

4. Serve with rice.  My favorite part of the adobo is the sauce.  Spoon it over your rice and you're set :)

Since Mike is is not one to write down recipes or take pictures, the images and the recipe are from myrecipes.com. I modified the recipe a bit.

Hopefully I will learn how to make some other Filipino dishes so I can share them with you!

Bon appetit!