Whenever someone asks me what my favorite Filipino dish is, my immediate, enthusiastic response is “CHICKEN ADOBO!”

Sometimes the best things in life can be simple: Chicken adobo is actually very easy to make. But – and this is a BIG But – you need the right recipe. Otherwise: di-sa-ster. And I know, because I’ve been there done that.

My mistake was not being specific enough in my Google search. Typing in

“chicken adobo recipe”

I picked the first recipe I found.

There followed the biggest culinary catastrophe in my life – though our visiting Dutch friends seemed to like it well enough, commenting it had a nice fish pie flavor.

After I (and my family) had recovered sufficiently from my epic fail, I got my act together and googled

“BEST chicken adobo recipe”

It has evolved a little with time, but the following recipe has been cooked reasonably successfully for countless meals over the last 15 years or so.

And it tastes nothing like fish pie.

Chicken Adobo

Ingredients:

5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

800g (approx.) chicken (different pieces on bone, not filet)

1/3 cup (80 ml) vinegar (white/clear)

1/2 cup (120 ml) soy sauce

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup (240 ml) water

4 or 5 bay leaves

4 eggs (or x1 per person)

1 onion

1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil or coconut oil


Boil the eggs in water till hard, then peel off shells.

In a wok, fry garlic in oil until medium brown. Add the chicken and onion and fry until light brown.

In a separate saucepan, combine vinegar, soy sauce, black pepper and water. Heat until it boils. Let it boil for about 2 minutes then pour it on the chicken, garlic and onion.

Add bay leaves and let it boil, stirring occasionally, until only half of the sauce is left.

Add the hard boiled eggs.

Serve with hot plain Jasmine rice.

Yummy!