Adobo (and Filipino food in general) is probably one of the things I miss most about living in the Philippines. It is known as the dish of the country because every Filipino loves it, and every Filipino family has their own special way to make it.
The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish (for over 300 years!), the Japanese and the Americans. All of these cultures have influenced Filipino cuisine and caused it to be really versatile. Also due to its geographical proximity to Indonesia and China, it has undergone waves of immigration that also impacts some of the cuisine.
While the name of Adobo was given by the Spanish, the cooking method and the dish itself has it’s roots in indigenous tradition. Adobo is the Spanish word for marinade, which is something you definitely have to do in this recipe! Adobo was so popular pre-colonization because the vinegar and soy sauce (or fish sauce known as patis) used in the dish kept the food from spoiling and thus could be kept longer.
Every province makes it a little differently but the basic properties in making it are meat, vinegar and soy sauce. For example, in the south of the Philippines there is a large Muslim population influenced by Indonesia. They tend to add coconut milk and sometimes tumeric to their adobo. I prefer chicken or pork adobo (although not so much pork anymore as I try not to eat red meat), but adobo can be made with any meat or fish.
Lucky for me Adobo is pretty easy to make at home. My biggest qualm is trying to find the right vinegar. I am kind of a stickler about it. Adobo just doesn’t quite taste the same when you don’t use cane vinegar from the Philippines. This can usually be found at any local asian super market. Here is a link to Datu Puti, a famous Philippine vinegar that you are most likely to find in the asian grocery store.
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs of chicken thigh, leg or breast
- 1 white onion, diced
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 c. of cane vinegar (or white distilled vinegar/cider vinegar)
- 1/2 c. of soy sauce
- 1/2 c. of water
- 1 tbsp. of whole peppercorn
- 3 bay leaves
- 1-2 red or green thai chilies (or omit it if you can’t handle it, whatever)
Typically chicken with some bone is best used for this dish. The dark meat and bone seem to add so much more flavor than just using chicken breast. Although I have made it with just chicken breast, it is usually only made when I do not feel like spending a lot of time making dinner.
First things first, slice up an onion any way you typically like it in stews, nice and chunky.
Then slice up your chili and mince the garlic.
Heat up a stew pot with olive oil. Throw the chicken into a stew pot and brown until the edges are slightly cooked. Add the onions, garlic and chili and stir. You can let it cook for a couple minutes. You should start to smell the wonderful aroma of cooking onions and garlic (it gets me everytime!!).
Add the cane vinegar, soy sauce, water, bay leaves and peppercorn.
Bring it up to boil and then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 30 minutes with the lid on or until the meat is nice and fall off the bone tender.
If you want to thicken the broth uncover the pot and turn up the heat to medium for about 15 minutes.
If the broth is still too runny for your taste, just mix some of the broth with cornstarch or flour and create a rue. Add that back into the pot and it should thicken it up.
When it’s finish just serve over white or brown rice!
If you want to add more vegetables, it cooks really well with green beans!
I’ve been trying to eat more veggie-friendly, so one of these days I might try and make a tofu adobo. tempeh adobo or adobo seitan. I found this really great tofu adobo recipe here that I might try my hand at! Maybe you will see a post from me in the future 🙂
As always, enjoy and let me know how you like it! Some days I really miss Filipino food, if you have a favorite Filipino recipe let me know!
The Food Mosaic 