Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Adobong Puti (White Adobo)


"Adobong Puti" or White Adobo is basically the standard adobo without the soy sauce. However, the original form of this dish as cooked by natives of this country before the Spanish came did not include soy sauce. Natives mostly just stewed their meat in vinegar. Whatever the name of that dish is now lost to time, unfortunately, and when it was adapted later on with the addition of soy sauce, it came to be known as "Adobo".

I don't have access to what the original recipe was, so this is just pretty much a guess. I had some chicken that was meant for Tinola, but I finagled a few pieces to cook for this dish. That's probably why the amount of chicken I use is kind of inexact. But just add ingredients proportionally, and you'll do fine.

3/4 kilo chicken (I used legs and thigh)
8 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped (you can use less if you like)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon salt (or add to taste)
(It is possible to use patis or fish sauce instead of salt, but I chickened out from using it)
1 tsp whole peppercorns (I normally don't like using whole peppercorns because it's nasty if you bite into it, but I used here just because)
1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup vinegar (preferably native coconut vinegar)
Handful of siling labuyo leaves. (This is optional. I just tried it out because well, I wanted to. Turned out OK though.

Put all of that in a stewing pot and add enough water to cover the chicken pieces completely. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Do not stir this. Just let it stew by itself. Let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until the chicken is tender and almost falling off the bone.

Serve on a plate and top with toasted garlic (optional). Of course, serve with rice.

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