I’ve cooked this dish twice — the first time, I can’t remember anymore and, the second time, for the noche buena episode of Jessica Soho’s show on GMA Channel 7 which was scheduled to air last Saturday, December 15th, but didn’t. There are slight differences between the two versions.
The first time I cooked this adobo, quail eggs and rice dish, I dropped the shelled hard boiled quail eggs into the adobo sauce and simmered them for a few minutes so that the eggs became light brown in color. I used chopped onion leaves for garnish.
The second time I cooked the same dish, I did not add the quail eggs until I was assembling the dish. In terms of color contrast, the dish looks so much better with the eggs all white instead of brown. Second, I used snipped cilantro (wansuy) for garnish. It’s a trick I learned from Mark Bittman in his book The Best Recipes in the World. Cilantro gives adobo a piquant taste that is indescribably wonderful.
Personally, I think the second version is better than the first so that’s the recipe that you will find if you click the link to page 2.
The following recipe serves 6 to 8 persons.
Ingredients :
2 kilos of chicken choice cuts (thighs, drumsticks or wings, or a combination of two or all of them)
half a kilo of long-grain rice
1-1/2 heads of garlic, crushed and peeled
a tablespoonful of peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3/4 c. of vinegar
1 c. of soy sauce
1/2 c. of coconut cream (you can use powdered coconut cream)
24 quails eggs, hardboiled and shelled
snipped cilantro
about a tablespoonful of toasted garlic bits
Cooking procedure :
Cook the rice using just enough water to make sure that the grains are evenly cooked through. Malatang sinaing isn’t good for this dish. Set aside to cool.
Cook the chicken adobo. Place the chicken pieces in a wide (non-aluminum) pan. Pour in the vinegar, add the crushed garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring to the boil without stirring. Allow to boil for about five minutes then stir. Cook over high heat until the chicken starts to render fat. Pour in the soy sauce, lower the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. You really do not need to add water. The chicken will expel its own water during cooking and that’s enough liquid to cook the adobo. You only need about 1/2 cup of adobo sauce to complete the dish.
For best results, allow the adobo to sit for a couple of hours so that the chicken can absorb the seasonings thoroughly.
About 15 minutes before serving the dish, reheat the adobo. Scoop out the chicken pieces and transfer to a bowl. Keep hot.
Remove the bay leaves and the peppercorns (not the garlic). Pour in the coconut cream and bring to a soft boil without covering the pan. If you have at least a cup of sauce remaining in the pan and you’re using powdered coconut cream, you can just add the powdered coconut cream directly into the sauce. Add the rice and toss to coat every grain with the sauce.
To assemble, transfer the rice to a serving platter. Arrange the chicken pieces on top. Scatter the quail eggs over the chicken and rice. Sprinkle with cilantro and toasted garlic bits.
This looks good, Connie. Reminds me of my mom’s adobo hidden in her garlic fried rice. She cooked that for me every Saturday in high school, when I have to go up early to school for CAT. That was a looongg time ago. That was the only time she cooked regularly. Now, I am the cook at home.
i have never tried adobo with gata before. i’m imagining the taste na. i love ginataang putahe din kasi. wonderful! wonderful! i’ll try this sa weekend.
Gay, I’m trying to learn to make crispy adobo. Now that is really great with garlic fried rice!
Beng, you should try adobong hito sa gata. Wicked! LOL
what happened to the jessica soho show?
anyways, am gonna try this version.. hopefully my hubby would like this.. he prefers pork adobo over chicken.. it has a funny taste daw.. malansa? i dunno what he’s got in his taste buds but.. well.. the photo looks yummy!!!
Adobo sa gata is really good, we always have that with native chickens we raise at home.
Connie, my mom’s adobo is not even crispy, just small blocks of pork and then with little sauce. She would just make sinangag with all of the adobo then serve it with the adobo hidden within the sinangag.
Gay
gigi, click here for the whole story.
Gay, wow that is intriguing. Adobo hidden in sinigang.
i can’t wait 2 try this…. i might sell it 2 my officemates
I saw this recipes in December and meant to go back to. Today in my search for good chicken adobo, it brought me back here.
Nakakagutom…moreso when I see Gay here
I once tried adobo with fresh rosemary and tarragon. It had a good twist to the final flavor too.
Hi Ms Connie, im a newbie that want to learn a lot about cooking..Do you have any suggestion on how-to’s and by the way where could I get wansuy leaves? Thanks you! More power to your website!
Link to cilantro entry
heyy, thank you for the idears cos my 2 quails vb and shelly lay heeps of eggs and i dont no what 2 do with them and noww i can put them in rices.
i am only 12 and i have my own quail farm its awsome!!!!
Hi Ms Connie,
Am just wondering what kind/ brand of soysauce do you use? Its just that when I cooked adobo (pork adobo recipe) it turned out too salty. I double check the amount of ings. that I used and its all correct. So Im thingking maybe the soysauce that I used is too strong…I used dark soysauce. Thanks Ms Connie
The amounts are guides. What’s too salty for you might be just right for me. Always adjust to suit your taste.