Garlic, spices and Philippine Independence

To commemorate the 110th anniversary of Philippine Independence, I am sharing with you one of my comfort foods – adobo.

Adobo is considered a national dish of the Philippines. The basic ingredient is vinegar and garlic and meat can be chicken or pork. I prefer to use pork belly. I like to add lots of garlic to my adobo. Some version would add bay leaves. For this version, I combined garlic and bay leaves to add some zest to adobo.

The basic adobo uses meat, vinegar and garlic. The Chinese influence in Filipino cuisine brought soy sauce to the dish and probably made it even better. The kind of vinegar will also impart a different flavor. It is common for us to use coconut or cane vinegar. It is a popular dish even before the prevalence of refrigerators as this can be stored for several days at room temperature. They say adobo tastes better a day after cooking. I don’t know, though, it doesn’t seem to last at home longer than a day.

Pork adobo

1 kilo pork belly, cut into serving pieces
1/2 cup cane vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3-4 dried bay leaves
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
6-10 cloves garlic, chopped

Mix all the ingredients in a pot. Add enough water to cover the pork belly. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Don’t mix the adobo while cooking. Simmer until pork is tender. Add more water if necessary. Once pork is tender, keep on simmering until sauce has thickened. Best eaten with garlic fried rice.

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Submitted to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Astrid of Paulchen’s Food Blog.

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