RECIPE #6 : Chicken Adobo (Phillipine chicken with garlic)

Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines. Most warm-weather countries have through the centuries developed recipes that preserve food while flavoring it. This dish is different than many because of its strong component of vinegar. It is at once sour, salty, and drenched in garlic.
Serves 4
chicken pieces 1 kg cut up or whole
1 head of garlic coarsely chopped (yes, an entire head!)
soy sauce 50 ml(or more to taste)
ground black pepper 5 ml
water 500 ml
vinegar 250 ml (rice vinegar or white wine vinegar work best)
2 bay leaves
cooking oil 25 ml

Put vinegar, bay leaves, pepper, soy sauce, and water in a saucepan.
Cover and cook slowly about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the cooking oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan.
Peel the garlic, break the cloves into chunks, and brown them over medium-low heat (about 5 minutes).
Add the chicken to the frypan and brown it over medium-high heat (about 5 minutes).
Add the broth to the frypan and simmer, partly covered, until the chicken is
done (about 30 minutes). Do not let it come to a boil.
Remove the bay leaves and serve over rice. This dish is too strongly
flavored to go well with wine; try serving it with beer.
You can substitute pork for the chicken, or mix the two. In the Philippines it is the custom to marinate the meat for two days rather before simmering; with the top-grade meats that are universally available in our grocery stores, that is not necessary (though it does deepen and enrich the flavor).
To marinate the chicken, mix in the broth and 3 of the garlic cloves after step 1, then put the chicken in a glass dish and pour the marinade over it.
Difficulty: easy.
Time: 1 hour.
Precision: approximate measurement is OK.

Bon appetite !

With love,
@dianamihaela