hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to classic Filipino cuisine with our very best shot at maybe our most requested Filipino dish, which is a chicken adobo. For those unfamiliar, “adobo” is a method of slow cooking and simmering with roots in both Spanish and Filipino cuisine, where a protein is marinated and braised in a soy sauce and vinegar based marinade with a few aromatic spices, then left to simmer over low heat for…however long you feel like. Today we’ll be making use of some skin-on, bone-in chicken drumsticks which I think is not only gonna yield us the juiciest piece of chicken as possible, but is also gonna be the most traditional choice for our dish today, too. That said, i have seen some very compelling arguments that braised chicken skin is overrated, which I don’t necessarily disagree with, so, we’ll get to that shortly as well.
In any case like many other low and slow simmered dishes, due to its inclination toward meal prepping and feeding large families, chicken adobo in particular has many nostalgia ties to Filipino of all over, because I’m sure, everyone’s Filipino grandma makes a superior version of this dish. So. Let’s try real hard not to screw this one up, Wesley. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 lb bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks
1/2 medium onion
cilantro
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (or 4 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp peppercorn
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
PREP
CRUSH and mince 4 cloves of garlic, set aside
LARGE DICE the onion, set aside
COMBINE all marinade ingredients with the chicken thigh in a ziplock bag, then let marinate for 30 minutes
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the chicken to the wok, sear for 2 minutes, turn, and sear for an additional 2 minutes
REMOVE the chicken, add an additional 2 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic and toss until fragrant for about 15 seconds
ADD the onion and saute for 1-2 minutes until translucent
ADD the sauce mixture and deglaze the remaining fond
ADD the chicken back to the wok plus a half cup of water, and let simmer for at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours
FINISH with torn cilantro