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. ;)