As Filipino as ADOBO

There is nothing that screams Filipino like the adobo dish. In my country, almost every household has their own version of this savory viand. In fact, Adobo is considered as the national dish of the Philippines. History says that the recipe dates back to the olden pre-Hispanic days where spices and vinegar were used to cure and stew the meat. This help keep the meat longer without refrigeration.

The advent of the Galleon trade brought soy sauce from China. Thus, the popular dish came to be. The most popular way to make adobo is made out of pork or chicken or a combination of both. There are also beef versions, fish, veggies, heck even mushrooms. The possibilities are endless. The basic ingredients include: soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, salt and pepper. I basically add a bay leaf or two in my recipe.

Then there are numerous ways of how to cook the adobo. There's the dump everything in the pan and let it simmer until done. Or fry the meat up and then add the spices and then let it simmer. Others even add coconut milk (this would be the Visayan version). Most of the times, adobo is served with an inch of fat/oil swimming above the meat and sauce (sorry Mom, but this is my memory of your and Mamang's adobo).

To accomodate my hubby, my recipe calls for a bit of a time to prepare the adobo, this is because I refrigerate my sauce so that the fat can harden and I can de-fat easily. DE-FAT, I love that word. So here's my slightly healthier version of the Chicken and Pork Adobo.





Chicken Adobo

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into serving sizes
1/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup white vinegar
1 head garlic, minced
1 beef boullion cube or chicken cube (if you don't have this, add a 1/2 tbsp salt)
6 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. vegetable oil

1. In a large bowl or container marinate the chicken with all of the ingredients except the vegetable oil. Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for over an hour.

2. In a large wok, add the chicken and marinade and turn up the heat. Let the chicken boil in the marinade for 10 minutes then add 1 cup of water. Turn the the heat and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes.

3. Thoroughly drain the chicken, take the marinade and de-fat it (cool, put in the fridge so that the fat will congeal and you can get it with one scoop).

4. In another pan, add the oil and heat it. Add the drained chicken and fry until the pieces are golden brown. Drain the chicken and add back to the wok and add the de-fatted marinade.*

5. Turn the heat up again and simmer the chicken pieces until the sauce thickens up. Serve over cooked rice or fried garlic rice.

*You can cut up potatoes in wedges or cubes and fry these too. Add the potatoes with the chicken in the wok to simmer it together until the sauce thickens up.

**Pork can be substituted for chicken, let it simmer longer 45 minutes to an hour.