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 Chicken Adobo
by Sean
In Braintree MA. there used to be a small tucked away restaurant called the "Shuttle Stop Cafe" it was, to the best of my knowledge, the only Philippino restraint in the Boston metro area. It was there that I tasted, and fell deeply in love with, Chicken Adobo.
It's possibly the simplest, tastiest, chicken I've ever made. I serve it over (now brown, because I'm trying to be good) rice, and usually there's just enough juice left over from the stewing process to flavour the rice.
Many people consider adobo to be the national dish of the Philippines and as such there are many variations on the recipe. What follows is mine and is to my tastes, so feel free to play with it; many people add some brown sugar to sweeten it, and I've even seen recipes that call for coconut milk.
Materials:
Consumables:
4-6 Chicken thighs (I use the boneless/skinless kind that you can buy in a giant bag from Trader Joe's. I've done it with the same sort of chicken breasts, but the dark meat is much more moist and gives it more flavour.)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup White vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 bay leaf
1 tsp (heaped) whole peppercorns 4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup water
Salt and (fresh ground) pepper to taste
Apparatus
1 large sautéing pan with cover (I use my 3qt)
1 clean plate
-In a glass bowl mix the white vinegar, soy sauce, Bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, salt and pepper.
-Set aside the water. (I use the same measuring sup I used for the soy sauce to get that last little salty bit out.)
-Put the olive oil in the pan and brown the chicken thighs on high/medium heat.
-Take the chicken out of the pan and place it aside, drain off any extra oil/fat from the pan, but do not touch the crusty bits at the bottom of the pan. Just pour off any excess that will pour off.
-Put the chicken back in the pan, rough side up, and dump the mixture from the bowl over the pieces.
-Add the water to the chicken and liquid in the gaps between pieces.
-Cover and reduce heat to low.
(If you're making rice start it here.)
-About every 5 minutes for the next 25-30 minutes open the pan and turn the pieces over, then re-cover it. This is an estimate, as one recipe I found said "Cook it until you can't restrain yourself."
After about 10-15 minutes it will start to crumble and fall apart and will be soaking/steaming in the liquid and taking on a brown colour from the soy sauce.
When it's done you'll end up with a very little bit of liquid left. Dump some rice on your plate and put some chicken pieces on it, then take a teaspoon or so of the liquid (a little goes a LONG way) and pour it over the rice.
Grab a fork, mix and enjoy. Given a choice I'll have a something like a Sam Adams Ale with it to balance out the potent adobo.
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