Chicken Adobo

When Franny was teaching an English Camp at Lake Balaton I was left to ponder a lazy summer menu for just me. What I came up with was chicken adobo due to its wonderful Filipino flavors which are not available in Hungary and its excellent use of chicken.

Way back when I was working at the Burke Museum in Seattle I met a lot of different people who would visit. And yes I talked food with them too. This recipe is inspired by a nice Filipino couple who told me the secrets of adobo. I don't claim to have it perfectly as it was not written down but here's the recipe I used:

Chicken Adobo

Ingredients

1 kilo of either chicken or pork or a combination of the two
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon paprika
3 bay leaves
4 tablespoons of cooking oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water

In a pot or wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and sauté the minced garlic and onions. Add the meat to the pan and sear. Add water, soy sauce, vinegar, paprika, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. Mix the browned meat back to the sauce and add cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken and season to taste.

Serve hot with plain rice.

Nachos, deconstructed

This feast was made fun by keeping all of its elements separate: (from top left-hand corner going counter-clockwise) enchilada sauce (Rick Bayless recipe), homemade nacho sauce, avocado, green onion, Frito-Lay bean dip (thank you Hanna and Alvin), first tomatoes of the summer, good Hungarian sour cream, and of course tortilla chips. The one napkin seen behind the chips is only a token of the many that were used during consumption.