Cook the national dish of the Philippines.
Chicken Adobo is the Filipino national dish and is reflective of the country’s international history. Like most national dishes of every country, every household has their own recipe and every Filipino family thinks their dish tastes the best. Obviously I think so too.
Wikipedia will give you the definition of the word adobo as the ‘immersion of raw food in a stock or sauce composed variously of paprika, oregano, salt, soy sauce and vinegar’. I mean, if it’s in Wikipedia then it must be true! All joking aside adobo is exactly that, minus the paprika and oregano. Many happy food memories are filled with my mum’s chicken/pork adobo and I’ve slowly adjusted it to make it my own. This is(one of) my husband’s favourite dishes and a favourite of his family!
Hopefully this recipe works as with lots of my cooking I just chuck a whole load of stuff in without measuring.
Serves 4 greedy people
What you’ll need
2 tablespoons oil (I prefer rapeseed)
6-8 chicken pieces (I prefer free range skinless, on the bone thighs and/or legs), excess fat trimmed or an assortment of thighs and legs, I don’t use chicken breast as it dries out
4 tablespoons Dark Soya Sauce (I prefer the Lee Kum Lee brand available in Chinese Supermarkets)
4 teaspoons of light soya sauce (again I prefer the Lee Kum Lee brand or Kikkoman)
1 ½ tablespoons of vinegar (I use either a chilli coconut vinegar quite commonly used in the Philippines but if you can't get a hold of that white wine or apple cider vinegar will work)
1 heaped tablespoon of honey (preferred) or a tablespoon or sugar
Garlic cloves (I would say at 4 cloves but I would probably put about a minimum of 6 to keep the vampires at bay)
1 tablespoon of five spice to go into the pan
3 star anise
3 bay leaves
Ladle of chicken stock
Teaspoon of black peppercorns or a teaspoon of ground black pepper
Method
1. If using skinless and boneless chicken thighs trim off any excessive blubbery fat leaving some on to help flavour the sauce.
2. Ignoring the Wikipedia definition of immersing raw food in a stock; in a wide heavy bottom frying pan, pan fry and seal the chicken thighs in the rapeseed oil, if using skin and bone on thighs and legs pan fry skin side down until crispy. Whilst sealing the chicken throw in the crushed garlic.
3. Put in the tablespoon of five spice and the star anise and coat the chicken, next put in the dark soya sauce and then the light soya sauce. Once a sauce starts to form throw in the bay leaves and pepper (ground or whole) and add the sugar and vinegar and cover the sauce pan and leave on a low-medium heat for about 20 minutes.
4. Take the lid off and add half a ladle to a ladle chicken stock if you like your sauce more wet, some people like it drier so if you prefer don’t add anything and let the sauce evaporate. Let the sauce simmer for another 15-20 minutes on a medium heat until the chicken is tender. If you are cooking lots of dishes i.e. a Filipino meal, a good alternative to free up hob space is it to bake the chicken once you’ve taken the lid off on a medium heat in the office (160 degrees). Note: If you have skin on thighs make sure the skin is facing up away from the sauce to preserve the crispiness.
5. Taste and add light soya sauce if more saltiness is needed.
6. Serve and eat quickly before it goes. Chicken adobo in the photo below is at the front of the photo!
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