Adobo is so close to my heart that I actually started this blog to write about it. This is not a recipe, it’s honestly a method. It must be cooked by feel, rather than by instructions.
All following pictures of Adobo have been Putoshopped! Puto recipe here.
Adobo is probably the most famous Filipino dish ever, but if you haven’t heard of it before, it’s meat (usually chicken or pork) that’s been braised in soy sauce and vinegar, flavoured with garlic, bay and pepper. Some variations exist (adobo puti without soy sauce and adobo sa gata with coconut milk), but I’ve never actually tried them myself. I have successfully made salmon adobo, but since the sauce depends on fat for richness, I haven’t been able to figure out a good vegetarian version. Sayang sa Doctor, I guess.
These are the important points:
- Meat with skin and bone still attached is optimal. But if you make this with pork belly for maximum fattiness, you’re straying into paksiw territory.
- Adobo is a meat-only dish. You can add sliced onions, but then you’re heading towards bistek, even if you’re not using beef.
- You can mix chicken and pork, but I don’t prefer it that way.
- Browning the meat is not necessary, but if you’re feeling conscientious, you can.
- Adobo is always served with steamed white rice. I try to include steamed vegetables to help me not feel so guilty.
- Whole peppercorns add to the excitement of eating adobo. You aren’t Filipino until you’ve accidentally bitten one and flooded your mouth with pepper.
- The dish is “adobo”, pronouced AH-doh-boh. Adobong is the adjective, adobong manok (chicken adobo) or adobong baboy (pork adobo). It is only kind of related to chipotles in adobo sauce in that it uses vinegar.
Singag is another “method-not-recipe” for fried rice. Unlike Chinese-style fried rice with vegetables and egg, sinagag is a way to make leftover rice more unhealthy tasty by frying. In this case, it’s flavoured with just the oil and sauce leftover from cooking adobo.
Ingredients
Note: Even though I want you to focus on the method, not the details, I’ve given approximate measurements for what I used in this post.
Meat (500 grams chicken thigh fillets)
Garlic (6 small cloves)
Bay leaves, dried (5 small ones)
Whole peppercorns (1.5 tablespoons)
Soy sauce (1/3 cup light and dark soy sauce, combined)
Vinegar (1/4 cup rice and white vinegar, combined)
Here’s how you would vary the ingredients further according to your personal taste:
Salmon fillet, skin onChicken Maryland, chicken wings,PorkSaucy (magsarsa)Make enough marinade to cover meat, discard after braisingMake enough marinade to cover meat, reduce to desired thicknessMake more marinade than needed to cover meat, add to braise, reduce to desired thickness
I want it… Not Very Balanced Very Salty (maalat) Light soy sauce Normal soy sauce Dark soy sauce Sour (masim) Citrus juice (kalamansi or lemon) Rice vinegar White vinegar Sweet (matamis) Nothing Saute slices of onion before browning meat Add 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar Rich/fatty Skinless chicken breast fillet Chicken thigh (bone-in, skin on), or salmon fillet, skin on Chicken Maryland, chicken wings, pork spare ribs Sinagag Ingredients
Leftover white rice
Prepare to marinade the meat by placing a food-safe plastic bag over a bowl. I cut the fillets into bite sized chunks, obviously this is optional.
Mince the garlic, or if you prefer a milder flavour, just smash the cloves and remove the paper.
Decide on how the liquid part of your marinade will be made up (salty, sourness, volume), then make enough of it to at least cover the meat. For me, this was about 2/3 cup total.
Add the soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns and garlic to the meat. Seal the bag and marinade in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and up to overnight.
When you’re ready to cook, heat some oil in a frypan, and start browning the meat. Do not discard the marinade yet, even if you want it relatively dry!
When the meat has browned on all sides, add the rest of the marinade and bring to a simmer. Cover, then lower the heat to braise until done (for chicken thigh fillets, about 15 minutes).
Remove the meat, and reduce the sauce to the desired thickness. It will never get particularly thick, when you start to see the oil floating to the top, that’s about as thick as you can get. Do not try to thicken it further with cornstarch. It will emulsify the fat back into the sauce and become disturbingly similar to glue (trust me…).
Transfer to a serving bowl, and you are done! Best eaten with freshly cooked white rice… unless…!
You have leftover cold white rice.
In the pan that you’ve just used to cook the adobo…
Add the rice and a couple of tablespoons of the adobo sauce.
Fry until the rice is warmed up and slightly crispy, and serve with the adobo.
I’ve added some steamed cauliflower, zucchini and snow peas here in an attempt to be slightly more healthy.
Have you ever had or made adobo? How do you prefer it?
Here’s the printable!
Adobo is usually a meat-only dish, served with steamed white rice. Meat with skin and bone still attached is optimal for richness. It's more of a method than a recipe. I’ve given very approximate measurements I used in brackets next to each ingredient.
Ingredients
Meat (500 grams chicken thigh fillets)
Garlic (6 small cloves)
Bay leaves, dried (5 small ones)
Whole peppercorns (1.5 tablespoons)
Soy sauce (1/3 cup light and dark soy sauce, combined)
Vinegar (1/4 cup rice and white vinegar, combined)
Leftover cold white rice
Method
- Prepare to marinade the meat by placing a food-safe plastic bag over a bowl.
- If you are using boneless meat, and want to serve it in bite sized chunks, cut it up now. If not, or if you’re using bone-in meat, skip this step.
- Mince the garlic, or if you prefer a milder flavour, just smash the cloves and remove the paper.
- Decide on how the liquid part of your marinade will be made up, then make enough of it to cover the meat.
- Add the soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns and garlic to the meat. Seal the bag and marinade in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and up to overnight.
- Heat some oil in a frypan, and start browning the meat. Do not discard the marinade yet!
- When the meat has browned on all sides, add the rest of the marinade and bring to a simmer. Cover, then lower the heat to braise until done (for chicken thigh fillets, about 15 minutes).
- Remove the meat, and reduce the sauce to the desired thickness. It will never get particularly thick, when you start to see the oil floating to the top, that’s about as thick as you can get. Do not try to thicken it further with cornstarch.
- Transfer to a serving bowl, and you are done! Best eaten with freshly cooked white rice…
- Take some leftover cold white rice.
- In the pan that you’ve just used to cook the adobo, add the rice and a couple of tablespoons of the adobo sauce.
- Fry until the rice is warmed up and slightly crispy, and serve.
Notes
Marinade time will vary depending on type of meat and cut. Light meat (fish, chicken fillets) will take 2 hours, but can be left for up to overnight (best for pork). You can use a mix of chicken and pork.