Cheap Eats — Chicken Adobo

by Katy on May 16, 2011 · 12 comments

People ask me all the time which blogs I follow, and I always mumble a little something about Get Rich Slowly, The Frugal Girl, Modern Thrifter and then kind of lose steam. Sure, there are other blogs I like to look at, but not on a daily basis. But I have actually added a new blog to my circle, which is Lomomacooking: Cooking With Claire. This blog is put together by Laura and Claire, a couple of my co-workers and is full of fantastic family friendly looking recipes. Written by a “Half-Chinese midwestern farmer’s daughter,” the recipes are practical, yet far from dull.

Tonight I printed off a recipe for Chicken Adobo and got to work, or rather got to no work, as the hands-on time for this recipe ran around two minutes!

I really liked that this recipe called for thighs and drumsticks, which regularly go on sale for next to nothing. And since I use a rice cooker, (which I love and fire up at least four times a week) this dinner was easier to construct than an omelet.

CHICKEN ADOBO

You will not believe how tender and flavorful this chicken is.  The meat just falls off the bone. My kids loved pouring spoonfuls of the juice over their rice. I’ve heard this is good with pork, and if you wanted to do a vegetarian version, it would be good with tofu- just don’t marinate it as long.
·     4-5 lbs. chicken thighs or drumsticks
·     1/2 cup white vinegar
·     1/2 cup soy sauce
·      4 cloves garlic, crushed
·      1 tsp. black peppercorns
·      3 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover and marinate chicken for 1-3 hours. Bring to boil, then lower heat. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer until sauce is reduced and thickened, and chicken is tender, about 20 more minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Please try this recipe, then keep an eye on Cooking With Claire for more dinner inspiration.

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”

 

{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }

rvchua May 16, 2011 at 4:51 am

You can add some cubed potatoes when cooking.

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Kris May 16, 2011 at 7:57 am

YUM!!! Thanks for the new idea. We eat alot of chicken because it is cheaper and I am always grateful to find a new recipe so I can avoid the “chicken? ” then Que the wailing and gnashing of teeth 😉 my family goes through every chicken night…lol

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Jinger May 16, 2011 at 1:58 pm

I’m hungry! No chicken, though….tomorrow. Sounds yummy.

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Virginia Bruce May 16, 2011 at 2:54 pm

That looks great, and I will probably try it out! But oh Katy, are those “baby” carrots? Did you know that they take malformed carrots, peel the heck out of them, and who knows what they do with the peelings?

How long does it take to peel and cut a carrot? Long enough to make it worth all that waste? To say nothing of the nutrition that’s lost because those soggy “babies” are just bleeding vitamins from the moment they’re packaged.

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Katy May 16, 2011 at 3:08 pm

Down girl, down. That photo is from the “Cooking with Claire” blog. And given that the woman who made this meal has four kids and works full time, I think I’ll cut her some slack. None of us are perfect.

Katy

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Anne May 16, 2011 at 3:06 pm

That’s actually a Filipino dish! =) I use a bag of buffalo wings when I want to make a big batch for a party or potluck.

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Clare May 17, 2011 at 6:00 am

I’ve made this Filipino recipe for years using Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. There’s no marinating in his recipe (making it even quicker), but he does calls for quickly broiling or grilling the chicken (just a few minutes) after it comes out of the pot. This crisps up the skin amazingly. His recipe is great for a crowd as you can make a lot of chicken in advance, then grill it right before eating.

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amybee May 17, 2011 at 12:17 pm

This might be a stupid question, but do you refrigerate the chicken during the marinating process?

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Naomi May 17, 2011 at 12:20 pm

My husband is Filipino, so I get to have adobo almost every time we visit his parents. His mother’s recipe calls for pork, though. We’ll have to try this one sometime. Thanks for sharing.

Based on my experiences with Filipino food so far, I think it would be hard to be a vegetarian in the Philippines. 🙂

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Jenn July 17, 2011 at 3:19 pm

Just made this the other night and it was amazing! Thanks for the easy and cheap recipe! 🙂

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robbiekay January 5, 2012 at 5:56 pm

Naomi, I agree. I don’t like meat much, so for me the hardest part was feeling like I was rejecting my Filipino husband’s culinary heritage. I don’t force my choices on him though & he has a lot of chicken wings in the freezer, so I might make this for him.

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robbiekay January 5, 2012 at 5:57 pm

Ugh. Trying to comment from my phone. I meant that was the hardest part about giving up meat for me.

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