Chicken Adobo Recipe - WTF Recipe

Cuisine: Filipino
Serves: 8
Prep time: 15 minutes (1-3 hours marinating)
Cooking time: 45 minutes

The "unofficial" national dish of the Philippines

Adobo or Adobar (a term in Spanish meaning marinate or prickly sauce) is a popular dish and cooking process in Filipino cuisine that involves meat and seafood marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and black peppercorns, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade. It has sometimes been considered the unofficial national dish in the Philippines.

Although Adobo is considered as one of the "national dish" of the Philippines, it is very easy to make but note that every step is very important so if you want to impress someone, go for that extra mile and make sure you pour every ounce of passion in this recipe and it will definitely be one of your go-to "impress-the-date" dishes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1kg chicken
• 8 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp vinegar
• 6 cloves of crushed garlic
• 2-3 cups of water 
• 4 pieces of dried bay leaves
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• Whole black pepper
• Cooking oil for frying

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Marinate the chicken in soy sauce and garlic for at least 1-3 hours.
2. Place cooking oil in a pan to apply heat.
3. Once the oil is hot enough put the chicken and cook all sides for at least 5 minutes.
4. Pour in the rest of the marinade and add water.
5. Once it boils, add the dried bay leaves and whole peppercorn.
6. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until chicken is tender.
7. Add vinegar and stir for 10 minutes
8. Put in sugar and salt to taste.

OTHER VARIATIONS/TIPS

• Check out the pork variation or even the chicken and pork combined.
• You can also throw in some hard-boiled egg for extra texture.
• For an extra kick, you may add finger chili (siling haba).

Overall, this chicken adobo is your baseline if you want to experiment on it as it is known to be one of the most flexible Filipino dishes. Have your own version of adobo? Let us know!

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