Filipino Adobo Flash Chicken
All the salt, sour and garlic of a long-braised adobo, done in the time it takes thin-sliced thigh to cook through.
Why it works
Adobo is normally a slow braise because the vinegar needs time to lose its raw edge. Slicing the thighs thin gives far more surface area, so the same soy-and-vinegar liquid reduces to a syrup in minutes and coats the meat rather than stewing it. The sauce is strong enough that it needs rice under it, so the rice goes on first and steams while the pan runs.
Method
- Boil the kettle. Give the rice a small pan with the salt and boiling water, bring back to the boil, then cook it covered on the lowest heat for 10 minutes. Leave it covered off the heat until you serve.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Lay the chicken in one layer, leave it 3 minutes to brown, then turn and give it a minute more.
- Push the chicken aside, drop the garlic into the clear space and fry 45 seconds, until it smells sweet and looks pale gold. Do not let it darken, or the sauce turns bitter.
- Pour in the vinegar and boil hard for 1 minute with the extractor on — this cooks off the sharpest edge. Add the soy, water, bay and peppercorns and simmer briskly for 5 minutes, turning the chicken once or twice.
- Stir in the honey, add the beans and broccoli, and cook 3 minutes more. It is ready when the chicken is cooked through with no pink at the centre of a thick slice, the sauce is dark and just coats a spoon, and the beans still squeak against your teeth.
- Fork the rice into four warm bowls, pile the chicken and greens on top, scatter with spring onion and spoon the reduced sauce over everything.
For the toddler
Lift a few pieces of chicken out at the end of step 3, before the soy goes in at step 4, and keep back a handful of beans and broccoli to steam in a little water alongside. The honey arrives at step 5, and honey is not for a baby under one — theirs stays out of the sauce, with maple syrup standing in if you want it sweet. Chop the chicken small and split the beans lengthways.
How the toddler notes workChef’s notes
Drumsticks need 25 minutes, so stay with thighs midweek. Whole chestnut mushrooms take the sauce well in 8 minutes.
Crush the garlic under the flat of a knife instead of chopping — the skins slip off and the cloves stay whole in the pan.
Ensaladang kamatis — tomato and red onion in a little vinegar — and a saucer of extra vinegar with chilli in it for anyone who wants the sourness sharper.
Genuinely better after a night in the fridge. Keeps 3 days chilled.