Chicken-Pork Adobo

Adobo, the Philippines unofficial national dish, has united and divided a nation. It unites as it is a most popular dish in Filipino cuisine. The ultimate Filipino comfort food, one overcome acute nostalgia for home cooked meals, parental embrace and nationalism. However, it divides having the countless geographical and ethnicity variations from sweet-salty to creamy-spicy. And every Filipino household thinks their recipe is the original or the best, such a silly notions because they are not as good as this one.

Adobo, also known as the Philippines adobo, is prepared by marinating and braising meat in the acidity of vinegar, saltiness of soy sauce, and seasoned with spices, mainly with garlic, bay leaves and black pepper. This dish is the easiest recipe almost a no-recipe dish as we can just throw all the ingredients together and leave it to cook. This is no brainer recipe anyone could cook this and the flavor from tanginess of vinegar, umami of soy sauce and the level of spiciness would depend on your taste, there is no way you can get this wrong. Here is my version:

My Chicken-Pork Adobo

The recipe yields 6-8 servings.

Preparation Time:                         10 - 15 minutes

Cooking Time:                               1 hour - 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons                                cooking oil or lard

1 bulb head                                    garlic

1300 grams                                    chicken, preferable drumsticks, about 14

500 grams                                      pork shoulder

50 grams                                        chicken liver and heart*

1/2 cup                                           vinegar

1/3 cup                                           soy sauce

2 teaspoons                                   Worcestershire sauce*

1/2 cup                                           sprite or 7-up*

2 cups                                            water

3 pieces                                         bay leaves, small

2 teaspoons                                   powdered milk*

2 teaspoons                                   brown sugar

2 teaspoons                                   black peppercorns

                                                       salt and pepper for taste

Procedures:

1.  Cut meat, chicken and pork, into serving pieces. Season chicken liver and heart with salt and pepper.

2.  In a deep frying pan, sauce pan, or a Dutch oven with tight-fitting lid, heat the cooking oil or lard over medium heat and sauté half of the garlic and brown the pork slices, and chicken liver and heart on all sides.

3.  Add the rest of the garlic, chicken, vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sprite or 7-up, water, bay leaves and half of black peppercorns.

4.  Increase heat to high and bring quickly to a simmer.

5.  As soon as it starts to simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook slowly about 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes or until meat is almost tender. Test with fork.

6.  Add milk, sugar, and the rest of black peppercorns. Continue cooking for about 3-5 minutes, stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Taste and adjust.

7.  Remove from fire when chicken and pork are tender and brown.

NTS:

   Best served with steamy hot rice.  

   May start by marinating meat over night with 5 basic ingredients, namely, garlic, black peppercorns, vinegar, soy sauce, and bay leaves.

   May add sprite to help tenderized the meat.

   Ideal vinegar and soy sauce ratio is 3:2, but greatly depend on your taste.  

   Add potatoes and hardboiled eggs for volume.

   Add coconut milk instead of powdered milk for creamier and more aroma.

   *optional

That is my adobo. Please give it a try and share your thought and comment below. Feel free to share your version of adobo. Also post any corrections, suggestions and violent reactions, as constructive criticism will definitely inspire and help create better content. Thank you so much.

As always enjoy!    

Filipino Style Chicken Soup – Tinolang Manok

This is an easy and healthy recipe inspired from the classic very Filipino ‘Tinolang Manok’. ‘Tinola,’ in Filipino language, Tagalog and Visayan dialects, is a soup-based dish served as an appetizer or main entrée in the Philippines. Just like wines in France or cheeses in Italy varies from region to region, same with this chicken soup-based recipe every region and Filipino family has its own version.  However, for this recipe is sticking with the simple and basic ‘tinola’.

This recipe is good for 2-4 servings

Preparation Time:             15 minutes

Cooking Time:                   25-35 minutes

Ingredients:

  1 thumb size           ginger - sliced to strips

3-5 gloves              garlic - chopped

1 piece                   onion - chopped

4 pieces                 chicken drumstick

5 cups                    rice water or water

1 piece                   chayote or ‘sayote’ or green young papaya– sliced in wedge

A hand full              siling labuyo leaves or malonggay leaves – stripped from soft stem

1 teaspoon             fish sauce or ‘patis’

                               salt and ground black pepper

Procedures:

1.  In medium heat and preheated pan with vegetable oil, sauté ginger, garlic, and onion less than a minute. Add a pinch of salt and ground black pepper, and stir until almost translucent about a minute. Then, add in the chicken drumsticks and let it brown for 2 minutes.

2.  Take out ginger, garlic and onion and let the chicken continue to brown and form a fond for 2-3 minutes, then turn the chicken and let it brown for 3 minutes.

3.  Add back the ginger, garlic and onion and add 5 cups or 1.25 liter of rice water or just plain water. Let is simmer of 10-15 minutes to thoroughly cook the chicken. May lower the heat if need arise.

4. Add chayote let it continue to simmer until tender for about 5-8 minutes. Do not let it over cook the chayote.

5.  Add siling labuyo or malonggay leaves and fish sauce (patis), simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Definition of Terms:

1. Rice Water - water that have been used to wash uncooked rice; Some elders claim that the starch from the rice helps thicken the soup; But it is a great effort to reuse scarce resource, like water.

2. Fond – French for ‘base’; commonly refers to the browned bits and caramelized drippings of meat and vegetables that are stuck to the bottom of a pan after sautéing or roasting. A by-product of Maillard chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugar under heat.

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As always enjoy cooking! Itadakimase! Kain na!

Inspired by: 

Food Wishes. (2017, September 27). Cider Braised Pork Shoulder – Pork Stewed in a creamy Apple Cider Sauce. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2017/09/cider-braised-pork-shoulder-and-by.html