Reliving My Childhood/Chicken Adobo

No this isn't my photo, I stole it from molatachef.blogspot.com

But I did cook chicken adobo last night for dinner, which brought pure joy to me.
For those who grew up with Filippino maids, you may have sampled this fabled dish which many regard as the national dish of The Philippines.

So anyways, I figured why not? And imagine my utter shock at how simple and straightforward the recipe truly is.

Vinegar + Soya sauce

Yeap, that's it. Everything else I just tweaked to suit my palate. No chestnuts? Ginko nuts. Shitake mushrooms? Why not? Star anise, bay leaves? Yeah.

That's one of purest joys I get out of cooking: Being able to extract all these childhood culinary experiences and recreate them once more. Almost like being a kid once again.

Kinda reminds me of Anton Ego tucking into his ratatouille in the movie Ratatouille.


Oh, if anyone's interested, here's the recipe.

Chicken (whichever part you fancy)
Equal parts vinegar and soya sauce
Onions
Garlic
Star anise
Bay leaves
Ginko nuts (not really in the authentic recipe but it tastes good anyways)
Sugar

You can choose to brown the chicken, onions and garlic or just dunk them all into the pot and leave to stew. See how straightforward it is?