Chicken and Pork Adobo a la Krystle

Adobo has been a personal culinary achievement of mine, mostly because it was the first dish that I ever learned to cook. It was about 5 years ago when I first tried to cook adobo, it was huge failure and it even bordered close to inedible. I put too much soy sauce in it and it looked like this black mess, the taste was even more horrid. My dad made fun of it and he even ordered adobo in a restaurant just to give me an example of how it should taste like.


However, I only learned how to cook adobo during my internship in Washington, DC back in 2009. It was a promise that I made with the guy that I was hanging out with back then. My very first time to cook anything for a guy...ever! Anyway, we even had to drive out to the filipino store in Virginia just to buy all of the ingredients plus a couple of balut eggs just for fun. I slaved over this dish in my little kitchen for about an hour and I remember doing a little dance after tasting the dish. It was epic. It reminded me of home and my mom. The verdict? Well he loved it and even had multiple servings. There were some leftover which my bestfriend who lived a few doors down finished! He even said that he could smell the aroma down the hallway and it made him hungry. My adobo was also a hit during our little international potluck christmas party. Yeah!


So here it is, my special chicken and pork adobo...


Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken, cut into pieces 
1/2 kilo pork belly, cut into cubes
1 head garlic, smashed
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 cup ginger, smashed 
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
2 cups water
5-6 dried bay leaves
5 tablespoons sugar
paprika
4 tablespoons olive oil
whole peppercorns
cornstarch
salt and pepper, to taste




1. Heat up a large pan and sauté the garlic and onions. 


2. Add the pork and chicken to the pan. Mix well.


3. Add the water, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, paprika, peppercorns and sugar. Do not mix. Just let it sit and cook on its own. Bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes or until meat is tender.


4. Remove the chicken and pork from the sauce. Set the sauce aside. In another pan, brown the meat with the crushed ginger. 


5. Once the meat is golden brown, add the sauce. Mix well. Add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 more minutes or until the sauce has reached your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.




Your adobo should have this perfect marriage of sweetness, with the slight hint of salty and tangy then that little kick of spice in the end. Mmmmm...not to mention the salivating aroma that fills your kitchen and creeps into your neighbors houses as well!




YUMMY IN MY TUMMY! with a little dance. ;)

Annabel's

My parents are celebrating their anniversary today, so we decided to eat out for our Sunday lunch.


Destination: Annabel's in Tomas Morato


This is my first time to ever eat in Annabel's but apparently its been around for a while and is also my father's favorite venue for his business meetings or power lunches. 


The ambience gives of this very traditional filipino house, it somewhat reminded me of my grandparent's house...which is now our house. Hmmm. Actually its much like Sonya's Garden in Tagaytay. There were all these vines and greenery adorned on the walls and windows. Down to the matching china and delicate table cloth. Oh not to mention the waiters wearing some sort of barong inspired uniforms as well. All in all, it was perfect for a sunday lunch with the family.


Annabel's is famous for its all-you-can-eat buffet, which is actually a bit expensive at PHP895++/person, from appetizers down to the dessert. So, here's what I had...

Baked Oysters, Salmon and Tuna Sushi, Kani and Salmon Maki Rolls

Warm bread served with a cheese selection and butter.

This was served with Cream of Pumpkin Soup

Watermelon Shake

Prime Rib with Gravy and Potato Wedge, Roasted Pork Belly

Rosemary Chicken with Broccoli, Seafood in White Sauce, Lapu-Lapu Milanese

Canonigo, Mango Mousse, Carrot Cake

There were a lot more items in that buffet that I wasn't able to try anymore since I was already stuffed after the 4th course. I also had a fresh green salad and pumpkin soup which I no longer featured here. Mind you, I barely survived the main course! However, thanks to the canonigo, which was simply divine, I was able to have this pleasant memory of eating at Annabel's...instead to the over-stuffed and satiated feeling I had earlier. We had lunch almost 5 hours ago and I still feel stuffed! If only I could go back just for the Canonigo...

YUMMY IN MY TUMMY!

Woori Jib and Nice Mart

FINALLY, my craving for Korean food has been satisfied. Thanks too my cousins who took me with them while waiting for our other older cousins. The spontaneous Korean dinner became our unofficial pre-game for another infamous soul searching/family bonding/epic drinking session which usually lasts until 5am. 

Mind you, I have been craving for authentic Korean food much like my beloved Honey Pig Restaurant in Annandale, Virginia since I got back to the Philippines in May 2010.

 

Off we went to WOORI JIB, an authentic Korean Restaurant along Kalayaan Avenue in Quezon City. We ordered quite a bit despite the fact that we were already full after munching on the free appetizers. Mmmm. Free appetizers consisted of kimchi, bean sprouts, tofu, pickled radish among others. All of which I believe are refillable too! YUM.

There was one dish that evening that I was really curious to try, Kimbap, mostly because I wasn't able to try it in Honey Pig. Those rolls were really yummy and we devoured them really quickly too! Its like any ordinary Maki Roll stuffed with rice, pork and veggies. This one however didn't need wasabi or soy sauce to go with it. We ordered a lot but I failed to document everything because I was busy enjoying the yummyness of everything that was infront of me. I don't even remember the names of the food that we ordered! I just remember that it was spicy and yummy and immaculate. I am seriously having hunger-pains as I write this. I guess this means that I need to go back again --- SOON. My birthday perhaps?

After stuffing ourselves up in Woori Jib, we then made our way to the nearby Korean Grocery called Nice Mart which was just around the corner to enjoy some ice cream. I was torn between the cheesecake ice cream, mochi, red bean popsicle and almost everything else in that freezer. However, I decided to go for the "fish ice cream" which at first really baffled me. Why would you want to eat fish ice cream? Seriously. Sounds nasty right? Apparently it was just called "fish ice cream" because of its shape. 

When you take it out of its wrapper you're greeted by this fish shaped wafer exterior. I decided to have a photo-op and gave it a lil kiss on the lips just for kicks. The wafer tastes like your normal ice cream cone, nothing special about it except that it keeps you from making a total mess as you normally would with any other ice cream sandwich. Then theres the silky vanilla ice cream with the sudden sweet surprise of the mashed red beans. 

YUMMY IN MY TUMMY!

Woo Ri Jib is located on Kalayaan Ave., Quezon City. If you're coming from the Elliptical Road, it's in between V. Luna and Matalino streets and a few blocks past Adarna Food & Culture restaurant. Private rooms are available on the second floor, for a minimum of Php2,000 order. Woo Ri Jib is open until 10PM

Humba / Braised Pork with Palm Sugar and Black Beans

After cooking a few dishes for my family...my father expressed that he wasn't too excited about my modern and westernized cooking so I decided to choose something more traditional and Filipino. Upon announcing my choice for our Sunday lunch, he was...at a loss for words unlike the usual snotty comments that he throws here and there. So, here goes...Humba it is.

Humba is a traditional Filipino sweet pork dish which originated in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Its basically the Adobo of the south. As I prepare this dish for our family's lunch tomorrow (I started writing this a night before since the pork needed to be marinated and our family is having a potluck lunch at my sister's house with her husband), our house help who are both "bisaya" both expressed that they are familiar with Humba. Humba recipes vary from household to household and there is no standard recipe for this dish much as the popular Adobo. However it does come close to the Chinese Hong-Ba, hmm...I wonder if the name was just a coincidence anyway, the preparation and flavors are relatively the same and is usually eaten with cua-pao (plain steamed dough similar to siopao without the filling). I have never made humba before, though I am quite the expert in making Adobo (a recipe which I plan to include in this blog as well), nevertheless I set out and spent two days to find a standard and acceptable recipe but I just ended up using ingredients and methods from several different sources (books, people, internet). This is Humba ala Krystle and I am very tempted to have it patented. *wink*

Serves 4-5 hungry people
Ingredients
1 1/2 kilos pork knuckles and pork bellies (fatty is good, very good! and the added flavor of the knuckles are to die for!)
3/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1 large white onion, diced
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
1 head garlic, cracked or smashed
1/2 to 3/4 cup palm sugar
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons salted black beans or "tahure"
2 small packs of native mushrooms or tenga ng daga
2 small packs banana blossoms (puso ng saging)
2 pieces star anise
4 pieces bay leaves

1. Marinate pork knuckles and pork bellies in vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns, and garlic for at least an hour (I marinated mine overnight cause I didn't have time to do it in the morning). When the pork knuckles and pork bellies are fully marinated, dip each piece in palm sugar and generously coat them.

2. In a large pan, sear the pork, bellies first on medium heat. Let it sweat and caramelize for a bit. There is no need to add oil at this point, the bellies will cook in its own natural juices, also known as fat! Carefully add in the knuckles, making sure not to over crowd the pan. Remove and put each piece aside until all pieces are done and seared on both sides.

Seared Pork

3. In the same pan, put all the meat back and add the onions, let it sweat and caramelize. Then pour in all the marinade plus the water. Make sure the meat is fully covered by the sauce. Bring this to a boil then lower flame immediately to medium to low then to a simmer to tenderize the meat. After simmering for about 20 minutes, pour in the pineapple juice, star anise and black beans (make sure not to add the sauce of the beans). Continue to simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the pork is tender. The sauce will noticeably start to thicken, so watch the liquid levels and add some water if necessary.

4. In a separate bowl, soak the native mushrooms and banana blossoms in water for 15 minutes. Once softened, add to the simmering pot of meat. Cook until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick or has reached your desired consistency. (I like my sauce thick but watery enough to pour over my rice) Add ground pepper and palm sugar to taste.

5. Serve hot with rice. Enjoy!


Overall, the Humba is a comfort food perfect for family meals. The aroma that fills the kitchen while cooking this dish alone is enough to excite and make everyone within a mile's radius hungry. The slightly burned dark brown and reddish color plus the fall-off-the-bone and melts-in-your-mouth tenderness of the pork...and the wonderful marriage of the added textures of the earthy native mushrooms and banana blossoms...then you get the saltiness of the black beans which balances out the tangy sweetness of the sauce...and all together, makes this dish simply divine.

Our house help said she usually adds Sprite or lemon-lime soda. I used unsweetened pineapple juice instead but maybe next time I'll add a few spritzes of Sprite as well. Let's see how that turns out!

HUMBA VS. ADOBO...both nalang! Yummy in tummy.