← Nouns Cooking · Indonesian & Filipino

Ingredients

• 1 kg bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 8 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 Onion, sliced (optional)
• 100 ml Soy sauce
• 120 ml cane vinegar or white vinegar
• 250 ml Water
• 4 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp Brown sugar (optional)

Method

1. Pat the chicken dry. Heat the oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat and brown the chicken skin-side down for 4–5 min, then turn and brown the other side. Lift it out.
2. Lower the heat to medium and fry the garlic (and onion, if using) in the chicken fat for 1–2 min until golden.
3. Return the chicken, add the soy sauce, water, bay leaves and peppercorns, then pour in the vinegar. Do not stir: let it boil uncovered for 3 min so the sharp edge of the vinegar cooks off.
4. Cover and simmer on low heat for 25–30 min, turning the pieces once, until the chicken is tender and cooked through (75°C / 165°F at the bone).
5. Uncover, turn up the heat and boil the sauce for 5–8 min until it reduces to a glossy, slightly syrupy glaze. Stir in the sugar if you like it rounder, then taste.
6. Serve with plenty of steamed rice and spoon the sauce over everything.

Tips

• For extra-crispy adobo, take the braised chicken out, fry it in a hot pan until the skin crackles, then pour the reduced sauce back over.
• Like most braises, adobo tastes even better the next day. Pork belly (or half pork, half chicken) works the same way.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Panlasang Pinoy Foxy Folksy RecipeTin Eats