Chicken Adobo

It's been awhile since I've had time to cook. It has been a busy month. Weddings, birthdays, MBA school info sessions....man I'm tired. So what events did I miss blogging? Did I mention I got a puppy? She takes up most of my free time, especially during the weekdays. I'm thinking that sometime in the near futre, I'll give some doggie treat recipes a try. Also, me and the bf celebrated our one year anniversary. Can't believe it's only been a year. The way we argue, you'd think that we've been together for a looooong time. =P

So, the bf went on a motorcycle ride with his buddies this past Sunday and was gone for the better part of the day. With roughly 6 hours of free time, what did I do? I decided to cook of course~!

I drove myself to a nearby 99 Ranch (it's an asian supermarket for those of you who don't life in the San Gabriel Valley area or don't have any asian friends) without much of an idea as to what I was going to make. I only knew that I'd wanted to get some green grapes for the bf cuz he's had this thing for crunchy green grapes for awhile and well, green grapes at stores like Ralphs and Fresh & Easy just aren't as crunchy. When it comes to fruits, hands down, asian supermarkets' got it right.

As I was wandering down the overly crowded aisles at 99 Ranch, I remembered that I had some recipes on my phone. Chicken Adobo was the first recipe I came across so there you have it. It's fate~!

Well not really, it's mostly cuz chicken adobo's easy to make and require less ingredients.

The recipe calls for a 3 lbs whole chicken quartered, 1 cup of soy sauce, 1 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 bay leaves, black peppercorn, 1 glove of garlic and a few slices of ginger. Instead of getting a whole chicken, I opted for some drummettes and wings instead. Not a fan of having to dissect a raw chicken. And instead of white vinegar, I used cidar vinegar because that's what I had on hand and figured that added bit of sweetness might be a nice touch. It'll make the sourness less harsh. So I pretty much just put all the ingredients in a pot and brought it to a boil. I let it boil for about 10 minutes, all the while stirring and basting the chicken to make sure they get a nice brown tint to it from the soy sauce. After about 10 min of boiling, I turned the heat down to a simmer and just let it sit there for a good 30 minutes to an hour, occasionally stirring so nothing sticks.

It might not seem like there would be much liquid to properly cook the chicken, but the chicken itself has a lot of moisture so there wasn't any problem there. I have this thing with adding onions to a lot of my dishes. I have no idea why except I like that added veggies that goes into a meat dish. Makes me feel a little less guilty about consuming all that meatage. =P So I sliced up a medium onion and tossed it into the pot to cook along with the chicken. If you're a purest when it comes to cooking, nix the onion part cuz I don't think that's very filipino.

Not quite sure if the bf liked the dish or not since he didn't eat much of it but I certainly liked it. I'm a fan of anything sour. I'm thinking next up, a jicama recipe. I found some at the 99 Ranch market and totally brought back memories of my childhood in Thailand. Suggestions anyone?