Filipino Chicken Adobo

Filipino Chicken AdoboI’ve written about Chicken Adobo before. My mom is Filipino and Chicken Adobo is a dish I grew up with. I crave it all the time. The last time I documented a cheater’s version, and it did not fully satisfy my craving, so this time, when  I made the dish for real, I documented the attempt. It is so simple, you will not believe it. And while it isn’t the most beautiful looking dish in the world, the flavors are out of this world.

You can simply double (or more) this recipe to serve more people. In fact, I heartily believe the flavor is better when you start with an entire chicken cut up, versus the half that I used tonight. But this is the way I make Chicken Adobo when it’s for just my hubby and me.

Ingredients
Half a chicken, cut into pieces (see note*)
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup Soy Sauce (I love Silver Swan, see Favorite Brands page)
1 large or 2 small onions, quartered
2 large cloves garlic, cut in half
1 bay leaf
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
1 tblsp peppercorns

*Note: I like to buy whole chickens and cut them up myself. For tonight’s half chicken, I separated one thigh, one wing, one drumstick and cut one breast in two. The backbone was placed in a ziplock in my freezer for stock and the other half was frozen in a separate ziplock for dinner in the future. I find this is the perfect portion for two people. Each person get dark meat (either drumstick or thigh) and half the white meat.

It is imperative that you use chicken on the bone. As it cooks, the bones enrich and deepen the sauce. Also, my mother does not use chicken stock in her recipe and instead uses all water. With a whole chicken, I’d probably do the same. With just the half, I think it makes the sauce a little more concentrated to use the stock.

Place all of the ingredients in a pot, cover and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn it down to a simmer, uncover, and cook for an hour, until the chicken is falling off the bone and the sauce has reduced to your desired consistency.

 

To serve, remove the chicken skin from the meat, and serve the now skinless chicken over white rice, drizzling over the sauce. I like roasted or sauteed green beans too, but any simple vegetable is a good choice. That’s it. Crazy easy and crazy delicious.