Mmm… Adobo

adobo, originally uploaded by spo0on.

Got some chicken or pork? Some garlic? Vinegar? Then you can make adobo. Yes, that’s all you need.

Adobo is the Philippines’ national dish. Nearly anything can be “adobo-ed”- from chicken to pork (or, in most cases, chicken and pork), to squid, to spinach leaves.

The beauty of adobo is that you can go completely minimalist (as I described above), or add a lot of things to it, and still have a hearty, hot, absolutely awesome meal. Got a few peppers left from last week’s chili? Chop them up, add them in, and your adobo becomes spicy (and, dareisay, even better with rice). Have an open can of coconut milk in your fridge? Make it adobo sa gata, creamy and delicious. Or splash about a half-cup of light soy sauce (Chinese or Japanese- they’ll both be delicious) in, and make a darker adobo.

I’m not just saying that, either: this is how we eat in our house. Sure, we’ll have pasta or steaks or stir-fries, but at least once a week, probably twice or more, we have adobo. It’s just the easiest thing: put your meats, vinegar, garlic (lots of garlic, don’t be shy here), salt and pepper in a large pot, bring it to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer it until you can’t smell the sharpness of the vinegar. Serve with plain rice.