Last night I made chicken adobo. I think it was the second time I'd ever cooked the dish, the first one being over 15 years ago. But I've been eating it at Zen's in San Leandro, and really enjoying it. I chose a very simple recipe from epicurious.com, and the results were quite good. It didn't have the depth of flavor that Zen's adobo has, but the chicken was moist and tasty, and most importantly, then kids (my kids!) loved it.
I will say that we ended up eating the chicken without the sauce, and not browning it after removing it from the sauce. We just couldn't wait :-) The following is my adaptation of the original recipe:
Chicken Adobo
- 1 Tbsp. oil
- 5 lbs chicken parts
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
- 2-4 bay leaves (depending on size)
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Put a large pot over medium-high heat and brown the chicken parts on the oil. Add the garlic cloves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the vinegar, the peppercorns and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce temperature and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the soy sauce and sugar, mix well and then simmer for 20 more minutes.
Remove chicken from pot, keep warm and reduce the sauce until it's about 1 cup. Remove fat and serve over chicken.