Kainan With Kinan Specialty: Chicken Adobo

The dish that I, in my current state, can truly confidently whip up for other people is chicken adobo. It’s the oldest recipe that I’ve learned (okay, the true oldest is cheese omelette… omelet du fromage… but who doesn’t know how to make that?), all the way back to 2011. It’s also the dish that I’ve paid so much attention to when it comes to fine tuning, which is why I am confident with it.

Of course the goal is to know as much as I can, but you can only master so much. This is “the one” for me.

Again, like everything else in life, there’s more than one way to do things. This is how I do chicken adobo. (I promised myself to not feel the need to justify things, but I just did that… anyway… moving on).

---

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kilo chicken (team breast and thighs, here)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar (sometimes I like to mix things up and use calamansi)
• 1 can pineapple chunks with juice/syrup*
• 1 cup water
• pinch of salt**
• black pepper powder**
• garlic powder (optional)***
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced****
• 1 piece red hot chili pepper, chopped
• 2 tbps cooking oil
• laurel/bay leaves*****

Process:

1. Marinate the chicken with soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder for at least 30 minutes. I usually prefer to marinate the night before. (I haven’t researched the science behind marination so I’m not sure if this is more effective but, yeah.)
2. Take out the chicken and line them up in a pot. Pour in the pineapple chunks and juice/syrup. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Set aside.In a separate pot, sauté the garlic, onion and chili pepper using the cooking oil. Add the chicken and sauté until light/golden brown.
3. Add the pineapple chunks and juice, laurel/bay leaves and soy sauce/vinegar marinate and bring to a boil for 20-30 minutes.
4. Let the dish simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.
5. Transfer to a serving pot or bowl. Serve hot and with a ton of rice.

(I usually discard excess solid ingredients like pineapple chunks, etc. and just keep a few for #aesthetics, but you can keep them if you’re into that stuff. You do you!)

---

I welcome any and all constructive criticism so long as they’re done with proper decorum. Let me know your favorite dish to make!

---

*the size of the can depends on how sweet the dish is

**the amount depends on individual taste

***man, I love McCormick Garlic Powder (this is NOT a paid advertisement)

****do you remember that meme?

*****or Yanni!