Chicken Adobo

I prepared this Chicken Adobo dish (a famous Filipino recipe)for my kids last weekend when my hubby and I got invited to a dinner by our previous boss who we did not see him for almost 10 years. This was my 1st time cooked a Filipino dish, and this dish was inspired by a blogger who I just recently discovered, Nami (Just One Cookbook). I love her blog which she share quick and easy Japanese Home cooking recipes and also love her step-by-step directions (this is definitely not an easy task for a blogger).

This recipe just came at the right time as I have a bottle of apple cider vinegar sitting in the pantry but don't know what to do with it.

I decided to adjust the taste by adding sugar after I tasted the sauce which is just sour and salty(very similar to Worcestershire sauce), because my kids prefer slightly sweet sauce. Also I added 1 Bay leaf when thicken the sauce. My kids love this chicken dish, each of them taken 2 pieces...nothing left for me when i returned home from dinner, hehehe..

Thanks to Nami for kind sharing and i going to try out more her recipes soon.

Chicken Adobo
(recipe source: adapted from Just One Cookbook)

5 chicken thighs & drumsticks with bone and skin, sauce will be enough for up to 8 pieces.

Sauce
1 cup water
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 large cloves garlic, sliced
Freshly ground black pepper

2tsp sugar, optional (not in original recipe)
1 Bay leaf, torn, optional (not in original recipe)

Method
1. Rinse the chicken with water and pat dried with paper towel. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a large pot. Make sure the pot is big enough so the chicken will not overlap each other.
2. Bring the sauce to a boil on medium high heat.
3. Add the chicken and reduce the heat to medium low. Cover and cook 30 minutes. Turn the chicken once 15 minute through.
4. Transfer the chicken onto a baking pan with wire rack (so the oil will drip down) and bake at preheated oven at 200c for 10mins or until golden brown.
5. Meanwhile turn up the stove to high and reduce the sauce until it thickens, add sugar and Bay leaf. Make sure it doesn’t burn when the sauce is boiling.
6. Serve the chicken on a plate and pour the sauce over. Keep the extra sauce in a small bowl so you can adjust the taste based on preference.

Ya, just like to share this photo with you. My hubby requested the contractor who doing furniture for my house to do this special rack for me. So I can plant with many herbs in my backyard and a better way to organize the plants. You can see I have planted some curry leaves, spring onion, basil, mint, turmeric leaves, and Ramie leaves, and more to come.

Happy Cooking !!