Adobo (National dish!)

Adobo can be made with chicken, pork, or a combination of both.  This one I made is with chicken, and the soy sauce version (the traditional recipe uses salt, and without the onion and potatoes).  An Irish friend loves this so much, and since I’ve given her the recipe has been making this several times already!

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken or pork or both (preferably with skin and fat on as these are where the flavours would come from; also, these are what would cook the garlic and onion if sautéing would be skipped—see below under Procedure)

sugar cane or coconut vinegar (1 part vinegar to 2 parts soy sauce for a dominant salty taste; or almost 1 part vinegar to 1 part soy sauce if preferred to have that “vinegar-kick”)

soy sauce (see note under vinegar) – should be with 20%-27% soya content

garlic (1/2 – 1 head–> the more the merrier)

onion (optional)

peppercorns (est. 1 tsp, whole or crushed)

bay leaf (1-3, depending on the amount of meat)

potatoes (optional, halved or quartered)

Procedure:

1. Put everything (except the potatoes) together in a pot (or, if preferred, give the chicken/pork a quick fry in the same pot where it will be cooked. When the meat has browned a little, add the garlic and onion to sauté—then add the rest of the ingredients).  The meat should be almost submerged in the liquid.
2. Bring to a boil. After a few minutes, lower the heat to simmer.
3. Do NOT disturb.  The dish will give off a very sour scent—but this will evaporate after several minutes.
4. When the dish starts to smell sweet, carefully turn over each cut of meat inside the pot.
5. If adding potatoes, add the potatoes at this point.
6. Bring to a boil again and then lower heat to simmer.
7. When meat is tender or almost falling off the bones, turn off the stove.
8. Serve with plain rice.