FILIPINO CHICKEN ADOBO

Chicken Adobo is a FILIPINO dish. Several sources say the FILIPINOS were already cooking adobo even before Spanish colonisation. Not to be mistaken with the Mexican adobo, this dish is uniquely prepared by stewing chicken in vinegar and soya sauce. This method is also considered as one of the earliest food preservation practice. {Sourced from WIKI} With Cristine at home, I do not need anyone else's recipe of Chicken Adobo!

I first tasted Chicken Adobo on board a ship. My husband being in the shipping industry, used to sail regularly until few years back. Though my sailing experience with him is less, it is an excellent idea to be on board with your spouse and kid / kids. Inside a ship, it feels like that of universal harmony, people of various ethnicity working together at one place in perfect coordination. Far from home for months, it seems a second home for all these hardworking guys. What average people say about them that they are all drunkards and have a wife at every port may be partly true. Fact is drinking on board has been banned for a pretty long time, they do miss their family madly. It is for their family that they accept such a hard  life. People lack empathy and can say anything, words are not taxable.

In general, on board you have FILIPINO cooks. I tasted a couple of their cuisine. They can cook other cuisines also with much élan as they have to cater to the taste buds of 30-35 crew members of different ethnicity 3 times at least everyday. So I consider them nothing less than an expert. As usual, by breakfast time I used to be at the galley to assist the cooks in my own will, in spite of my naughty husband ordering the chief cook not to allow me there. Chief got friendly with me and would request me to make roti which they were poor at. Well, I can proudly say I prepared 25-30 roti every night with their help. 

It was pleasure cooking for people far from home for months. I wish to write about this hard working, carefree bunch of people titled "LIFE AT SEA"....I have the right concoction of empathy, emotion and material, but I lack vocabulary or may be the flair for writing.

I found the FILIPINO CHICKEN ADOBO, the simplest of all recipes using few ingredients.

Recipe Courtesy : Our Cristine!

INGREDIENTS :

CHICKEN : 500 gm
VINEGAR : 2 tbsp
SOYA SAUCE : 4tbsp[preferably the dark one, I used the light one]
GARLIC[minced] : 2 tsp

GINGER [minced] : 1/2 tsp
BLACK PEPPERCORN : 8-10
BAY LEAF : 2-3
SALT : as required
SUGAR : 1/2 tbsp
OIL : 3 tbsp
WATER : 2-3 cups

METHOD :

Wash the chicken and pat dry. Marinate with the minced garlic, vinegar, soya sauce, salt as required for about 2-3 hours.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the chicken pieces sans the marinade and stir fry for about 5-8 minutes. Reduce heat and add the marinade. Mix well and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add the bay leaves and peppercorns. After five minutes, add water, mix well and and cover. Simmer at low heat for another 10 to 12 minutes, add the sugar, stir and switch off. Its done.

Enjoy hot with piping hot steamed rice!