One of the first dishes I cooked for my wife when we began dating was a Filipino dish called “adobo.” Growing up I had it two ways, either chicken or pork. And for this occasion, I decided that chicken would be my best. She loved it. Five years later we had a beautiful baby girl named, Anna James.
This past year with her has been a wonderful experience for Connie and me. We wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world. And with that, she was able to experience her first Filipino adobo.
It’s one of the easiest Filipino dishes to make. It is also a great one pot dish for easy clean-up. (That’s if you decide not to count the rice pot—I mean, what’s a Filipino meal without rice?!?)
So here is how I cook mine!
As I stated earlier, you can make it with either chicken or pork. So I decided to use chicken wings that I had in the freezer already (of course, I defrosted them before cooking). Then, I seasoned with salt and pepper. In a pot over medium-high heat, I poured a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and tossed the chicken wings in to brown.
Once browned, I added a diced medium onion and chopped garlic. After the onion began to sweat, I added soy sauce and vinegar. The “ratio” I use is 2:1. Meaning: 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part vinegar. Then add one bay leaf.
When I cook, I usually don’t follow a recipe, but if I want you to cook it yourself I have to be exact. Normally, I would use the big spoon I’m cooking with to measure. But—in this case—let’s go with 1/2 cup of soy sauce and 1/4 cup of vinegar. I wanted to be adventurous this time around so I used apple cider vinegar. The apple cider vinegar gave the adobo more of a sweet flavor which I enjoyed very much!
Turn down the heat and let it stew for 30 minutes to cook down. This time allows the meat to cook in the juices and take in all the flavors. It also gets the meat very tender and “fall off the bone.” Do this uncovered so that the vinegar has time to cook off more.
To enjoy this, scoop up some of this goodness and pour over a plate of rice. It’s pretty much a Filipino version of smothered chicken!
Ingredients:
- Chicken (1 lbs chicken wings)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, lightly minced
- 1/2 c Soy sauce
- 1/4 c vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- Bay leaf
#CAJSIANCOOKING 