Adobong Manok (Filipino Chicken Adobo)

         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!

Schweinebraten (German Pork Loin Roast)

So Schweinebraten is probably one of the most popular meat dishes in Germany (at least Bavaria) and it is one that we have often for a large family gathering. My Oma is German, from Nuremberg, and this is her simple recipe for a traditional Bavarian Schweinebraten. This is the super simplified version using a lean pork loin. Traditionally its best to make the Schweinebraten with a pork butt or a pork shoulder that still has a little of the fat and skin on top. The skin on the top is cut in a criss-cross pattern and cooked until it is crispy. Many of the authentic German flavors include cloves, juniper berries or mustard seed. My grandmother always like to keep the flavor of the meat simple, and that is my favorite way of preparing it simply because its grandmothers cooking. Try as many “authentic” versions of this recipe as you can if you are an avid meat-eater, you really can’t go wrong.

Usually this recipe accompanies some kind of dumpling, usually potato or bread (or sometimes both). I am biased towards kartoffelknödel (potato dumplings) because that’s what was served in our household. Maybe one day I will try my hand at another Bavarian recipe of Schweinebraten but for today I am going to share my families recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 lean Pork loin
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt
• pepper
• garlic salt
• Carrots, Leeks, Potatoes, and Onions for roasting (or any other kind of vegetable you like)
• Olive Oil

Always bring your meat up to room temperature before you cook with it (i’m not exactly sure why if anyone wants to care to explain it to me. It was just told to me by my mother and I followed it). The secret to our perfect pork roast is the garlic. Cut the garlic gloves into long thin spires.2 cloves should be more than enough for a roast feeding about four people.

The first thing you do with the pork loin is to cut little holes in the meat with a sharp knife. Make the holes about a half inch to an inch apart. Insert the garlic pieces into the holes in the meat. Repeat this until all of the holes are filled. I love garlic so I tend to shove a lot in there.

Place it in a roasting pan with olive oil and all of the vegetables you want to roast with. The oven should be preheated to 400F. I only used carrots and onions this time, because my roommate hates celery and it was the only thing I had around. Leeks are especially good! Aside from delicious roasted vegetables, they are useful to have when cooking meat because they help make the stock used for the gravy. Traditional Schweinebraten is always eaten swimming in gravy.

When the oven is ready, place the pork inside and cook for about 55 minutes. Remove the pork from the oven  and place it to rest on a cutting board or serving platter. Let the meat stand for about 10 minutes. Always wait for you meat to rest before slicing. If you slice too soon it will release all of the juices in the meat and leave the meat really dry. Remove the veggies from the dish. You should have a lovely veggie/meat juice left. If you are baking in a dish that is not stove-top friendly place the meat broth in a stove-top pot. Add in some salt, pepper, flour (to thicken) and maggi (not necessary but we never cook port roast without it).

Slice the meat and serve!

I just made boiled potatoes and a simple salad to accompany the roast and carrots. I didn’t have the time to make the kartoffelknödel from scratch but don’t worry the recipe is coming! Instead try it with a traditional German potato salad or Kartoffelsalat.

What are some of your families meaty recipes? What do you love to eat with your pork roast?