Chicken Adobo

Chicken braised in coconut milk, vinegar and soy sauce

Course Main Course

Cuisine Filipino

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 40

Servings people

Equipment

12" skillet

Ingredients

8 chicken thighs bone in, skin on
1/3 cup soy sauce (80ml)
1 can coconut milk 13.5 oz (400 ml)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar (180ml)
8 garlic cloves skins removed and lightly crushed
4 dried bay leaves or 2-3 fresh leaves
2 Tsp freshly ground pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl toss the chicken with the soy sauce and set aside for 30-60 minutes to marinate.
Remove the chicken pieces from the bowl allowing excess soy sauce to drip back into the bowl and place skin side down in a large, cold skillet.
Set the skillet over medium high heat and cook the chicken until the skin is well browned - about 7-10 minutes depending on your stove's heat output. Leave the chicken alone at this point and don't be tempted to fuss with it. Lift a corner of one piece to see how it is progressing and take it out of the pan when it has a nice golden brown color.
While the chicken is browning mix the coconut milk, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and pepper into the soy sauce left in the bowl.
Remove the chicken to a plate and pour off any fat in the pan.
Return the chicken to the pan, skin side down and pour in the coconut milk mixture.
Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered for about 20 minutes.
Flip the chicken over and continue cooking another 10 minutes or more if the thighs are particularly large. It should be tender enough that the meat will offer little or no resistance when poked with the tip of a small paring knife.
Remove the chicken to a plate and tent with foil to keep it warm.
If the sauce seems too thin, turn up the heat and reduce it until it thickens a bit. It should be just viscous enough to coat the back of a spoon. See note below.
When the sauce is the consistency you want it, return the chicken to the pan to warm it through and coat with sauce.
Serve the chicken over rice with the sauce.

Notes

Chicken thighs are the preferred cut here because they can tolerate the long cooking time. Long, slow cooking allows the connective tissue in the thighs to break down into gelatin which takes the place of the water in the meat which will have cooked out. The result is tender, succulent chicken thighs. If you choose to use breast meat, be aware that it will have a tendency to overcook and become dry since it doesn't have any intramuscular fat or connective tissue to keep it moist and tender. The cooking time will be shorter for white meat and you will want to use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of the meat. Take it out of the pan when it reaches 160°F (70°C) to avoid overcooking.

The 1 hour prep time indicated in the recipe includes 30-60 minutes to marinate the chicken in soy sauce. During this time all of the other prep, minimal though it is, can be done.

I have found that the consistency of the sauce after cooking the chicken is inconsistent. Occasionally it is perfect, sometimes it needs to be reduced a bit to get the right consistency and sometimes it simply does not thicken at all. In that case I will dissolve a teaspoon of tapioca or potato starch in a tablespoon of water and sir it into the sauce to get a nice silky texture. Plain flour or cornstarch tends to dull the flavor and can make the sauce a bit gloppy.

Once the chicken is done and ready to serve, you may want to discard the skin which will have become unpleasantly rubbery from being cooked in liquid.

While the chicken is cooking you can cook the rice that will be served with it.