Filipino Chicken Adobo

Another way to use up some of that delicious home-made vegetable stock. Adobo is apparently Philippines' national dish. It is made up of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorn, stewed to create a characteristic salty and tangy flavour. To be honest, I have never had this dish before. I just kept stumbling upon various adobo recipes, and I couldn't resist sauces like this - oily, thick, brown...so good with rice.

The first time I made this, I added 1/2 cup vinegar and according to the wild boar, it was way too sour. The second round, I halved it and turned out much better. It was nonetheless still quite sour, this dish reminds me of pork trotters with black vinegar 猪脚醋 - a common dish served during confinement after pregnancy. I love the tanginess but not the wild boar, well, he's generally not very fond of sour stuff anyway. It was generally very tasty, really good with rice. I like how you get a sudden burst of spicy flavour when you bite into the black peppercorns. I added some fresh basil, simply because I had some on the verge of wilting in the fridge, which added a nice aroma and fresh flavour.

Ingredients:

• 720g (about 7) chicken thighs
• 1 large onion - sliced
• 1/2 bulb garlic - peeled and crushed
• 1/4 cup vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
• 1/4 cup light soy sauce
• 1 cup home-made vegetable stock
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorn
• 1 handful fresh basil - torned (optional)

Directions:

• Heat up a bit of oil in a large pot. Brown chicken pieces on all sides. Leave aside for later use.
• In the same pot, fry onions until softened and translucent.
• Add garlic, fry until fragrant.
• Mix in all the other ingredients including the chicken.
• Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer until sauce thickened (about 30-45 mins).
• Stir in basil.
• Serve with rice!