Tags
Adobar, Adobo Chicken, Bay Leaves, Braised, Broiled, Chicken, Fish, Garlic, Lechon, Longganisa, Madhur Jaffrey, Marinade, Philippines, Rice, Sauce, Seasoning, Soy Sauce, Vinegar
One day I will visit the Philippines as I have a pen friend there, but for now will have to be happy with dinner from there
The Philippines is officially known as the Republic of the Philippines and is a soverign island country in Southeast Asia and it is situated in the Western Pacific Ocean. There are over 7,107 islands and are are categorised under three main geographical areas. Mindanao, Visyas and Luzon. Manila is the capital where Quezon City is the most crowded and both these cities are part of Metro Manila. The cuisine and style of cooking that is related in The Philippines has evolved over many, many centuries from its Austronesian origins to a mixed cuisine of Spanish, Chinese, American and Malay. Also other influences such as Latin and Asian have adapted native ingredients and also the local palate.
Dishes in The Philippines range from very simple, which would be a meal to salted fish and rice, to much more sumptuous and intricate like paellas(Spanish Origin), Spaghetti and Lasagne (Italian Origin). There are popular dishes such as whole roasted pig – which is called Lechon, or Longganisa – which is Philippine sausage. There was much to chose from but only being a Monday didn’t want to complicate the ease of cooking dinner.
Having searched our own library of cook books as well as the web it appeared that Adobo seemed a popular favourite throughout The Philippines. This is a dish which is Pork and or Chicken braised in garlic, Bay Leaves (fresh from our garden), vinegar, oil and soy sauce. Our recipe tonight is taken from Madhur Jaffrey’s Far Eastern Cookery.
Adobo is from the Spanish “Adobar – marinade”, “sauce” or “seasoning”, it is a popular process in Philippine cooking and can also be used with fish and vegetables. It has been considered as the unofficial national dish in The Philippines.
The recipe can be found here this one uses chicken but we have used pork chops as our book as suggested.
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| Pork marinating in the listed ingredients |
Initial thoughts from the family – “It smells amazing”
The proof will be in the eating – any time now….
The finished dish was served as suggested with plain boiled rice – we prefer Basmati and this is what we used.
Family Verdict: A very tasty meal but very basic. Normally we would eat vegetables most nights so maybe we could have researched and added some vegetables from the area. The vegetarian option was cooked with a meat substitute and the flavours were absorbed into the fillet. This would be a meal that was easy to prepare and easy to cook and a great week night meal.
Our next stop is India – to the delight of Ian – he loves curry, but we will research the local area rather than cooking any curry that takes our fancy….Join us again on our journey.
Rory is loving this and so far has eaten everything that has been chosen.
