Chicken Adobo Recipe

I had chicken adobo for lunch. Again.

Oh, I am not complaining. I love adobo. The aroma, texture and characteristically Pinoy flavor it has makes it the ultimate accompaniment to rice. For me, adobo is soul food, Pinoy style. According to Wikipedia, "Adobo is a common and very popular dish in the Philippines; indeed it is considered a national dish. Typically made from pork or chicken or a combination of both, it is slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns, and often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterwards to get the desirable crisped edges. This dish originates from the northern region of the Philippines. It is commonly packed for Filipino mountaineers and travelers. Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar, which inhibits the growth of bacteria." (Read more, here.)

The ease with how you can prepare this dish and the simplicity of the ingredients only add to its popularity. In my house, for example, aside of course for the usual craving for adobo, if we can't think of anything else to prepare for lunch, we cook adobo. Every Filipino family, I think has their own special adobo recipe. Here's how we make it in ours:

Food Notebook's Chicken Adobo

Ingredients:

5 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 whole chicken, cut up into pieces (adobo cut)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
3 bay leaves
juice of 3 calamansi (Philippine lemon)
1 tablespoon pepper corns

Procedure:

Saute garlic in oil. When garlic starts to turn brown, add onion and ginger. Add chicken pieces and fry chicken on both sides just until it turns brown. Add soy sauce, vinegar, calamansi juice, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Comments

Charisse said…
Hi!

Found your blog while searching for a recipe for Yema balls. Looks delish and will definitely have to try it out sometime. Born in the Philippines, but grew up here in the States, and now that I'm pregnant with my second child I'm REALLY craving lots of white rice and filipino food! Like chicken adobo. Have been using the mixes available at the oriental markets here, but I prefer to cook/bake from scratch. So happy to have found your blog. Please post more of the classic recipes. Salamat!