Adobo is a Filipino trademark. When there's Filipino, there's Adobo! Adobo is a dish of pork or chicken OR pork AND chicken. It can also be isaw (intestines, yeah, my favorite!), beef, chicken liver and gizzards, and can also be done on vegetables like sitaw (long/snake beans) or kangkong (swamp cabbage). Adobo is done by cooking meat (or vegetables) in water, vinegar and soy sauce, seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper.
Here's my own version of Chicken and Pork Adobo with a lot of crispiness and a dash of sweetness.
Susi's Chicken and Pork Adobo Recipe:
Ingredients:
300 g chicken legs or thighs, cut up
300 g pork liempo (belly), cut up
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar (Datu Puti or Silver Swan)
1/4 cup soy sauce
salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
sugar to taste
monosodium glutamate, optional
1 head garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp. oil, for sauteeing
Procedure:
1. In a deep pan, preferably made of cast iron, combine water, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, pepper, MSG, chicken and pork. DO NOT STIR OR MIX. Place over medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. The liquid will be reduced to about a half. Make sure that the meats are thoroughly cooked. Drain and reserve liquid. Transfer meat in a separate container.
2. In the same pan, heat oil, saute garlic until light brown, add meat, cook until crispy, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Season with sugar.
3. When the meat becomes crispy, add reserved liquid a little at a time, making sure that the liquid had evaporated before adding more. Continue the process until you have used up all the liquid. It will taste much better if the meat has absorbed all the vinegary goodness of the sauce.
Serve with piping hot rice.Enjoy!
