Chicken Adobo

Chicken Adobo

Chicken adobo is a very well known, if not the most well known dish of the Philippines. Adobo in Filipino cooking means stewing meat in vinegar. About two weeks ago, my friend Kenny invited me to his place for a cooking lesson and taught me how to make pork adobo. Kenny grew up in the Philippines with terrific cooks and I felt very fortunate to have him as my teacher. The key to great adobo is in the vinegar and soy sauce. Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see a photo of what his family and many Filipino families consider to be the best brand of vinegar and soy sauce. When I purchased these at the Filipino market, the woman at the check out counter even assured me that these brands had the best flavor.

The pork adobo Kenny made was incredible, with the perfect balance of salty and sour. He also used a peeled and chopped baking potato, which I did not use in my chicken adobo. To make pork adobo, use the same ingredients below and substitute chicken drumsticks with country style pork ribs. Thank you Kenny for introducing me to adobo and sharing this terrific comfort dish. I will be making this quite a bit and cannot wait to introduce my friends to chicken adobo.

I have made this dish twice, the first time with chicken breasts and served it with medium grain brown rice, but I think it tastes better with chicken drumsticks and medium grain white rice. Enjoy. I’m sorry about the photo. I was in a big hurry and didn’t get the best photo I wanted for this dish. I’ll just have to make it again to take a better photo.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds of chicken drumsticks, rinsed and dried
Water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 onion, sliced

Step one: Place chicken drumsticks in a pot large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Add enough water to barely cover the chicken and turn the heat to high. Once it is boiling, turn the heat to medium low, place the cover over the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.
Step two: Take the lid off and add vinegar, soy, bay leaves, garlic, pepper and mix with a wooden spoon. Cover the pot and simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the cover, add the onion, turn the heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes. The onion goes in last so it can maintain a crunchy texture.  Taste the broth, if it tastes watery, reduce the broth by cooking it for 5 more minutes on medium heat.
Step three: Remove the chicken and cool until comfortable enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bone with your hands or fork and divide the meat equally between four bowls filled with rice. Ladle broth over chicken and serve.

Chicken Adobo