Adobo is the Filipino national dish. There are as many versions of the recipe as there are cooks. This version is an adaptation of a recipe published in the New York Times. Filipino adobo shares only the Spanish-derived name with Mexican adobo. All Filipino adobo involves stewing in vinegar. This version also uses coconut milk (gata means coconut milk).
Ingredients
one kilogram pork shoulder, such as Boston butt
3 TBS neutral oil (I used peanut oil)
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used dark soy sauce)
1-1/2 cup rice vinegar
12 cloves garlic, peeled and flattened
3 bird's eye chiles or other fiery chiles, stems removed but left whole
3 bay leaves
1-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Procedure
1. Cut the pork shoulder into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes, trimming large bits of fat and gristle.
2. Heat a heavy dutch oven or deep saucepan over moderately high heat. Add the oil. When it is hot, add the pork, turning occasionally, until it is brown. Be careful not to burn the fond.
3. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered until the pork is cooked through and tender, about 1 hour. Add water if the sauce gets too dry. Remove the bay leaves and chiles.
4. If there is too much sauce for your liking, remove the meat, turn heat to high, and boil down the sauce.
Serve with rice.
Notes
The NYT recipe calls for chicken thighs rather than pork. The chicken is marinated in the sauce overnight before the stewing. After the stewing the chicken is removed from the sauce and grilled on both sides under a broiler until caramelized. This is a common technique in Filipino adobo. I decided instead to skip the final broiling and to achieve the Maillard reaction by browning the meat first. I skipped the marination so that the meat would be drier and brown faster. I figured that the smaller chunks of meat would have plenty of time to absorb the flavor of the sauce, and that turned out to be the case.
-Paul W.