Quarantine Cooking: Filipino Nostalgia for Adobo

I'd been craving salty, savory Adobo atop sticky jasmine rice. However, the hubs dislikes Filipino food unless it's nonthreatening lumpia, and I always hated growing up with the fishy, funky cooking odors left by my mom's homeland cooking. I noticed on my last trip to the Philippines, outdoor kitchens adjacent to the indoor kitchen, also called the "dirty kitchen" is where Filipinos fry fish or cook anything stinky. A few years ago, I was participating in potlucks and did not want to own a crockpot in order to bring chili or soup to participate.  I knew I wanted a portable burner and could not find one at a Bed Bath and Beyond or Target.  I thought to myself, hmm, if I were homeless and having to live in short term residences, where would I go to buy that George Foreman grill or portable burner? Bingo. I went to the Rite Aid in town and bought a Proctor Silex burner for twenty bucks, which has served me well since. Next on my search is a small outdoor table and chairs set that my husband made me put in the community gathering space in front of our condo. In the meantime, I set my portable burner on top of my Weber Grill in order to cook my pungent adobo outdoors.

I prepped my mise en place by chopping garlic and crushing whole black peppercorns and set it out with soy sauce, coconut vinegar, coconut cream, chicken and boneless pork ribs.

I cranked the burner and tried to crisp the fat on the pork and chicken and nervous about it burning and poured bone broth into the pot too soon to unstick the meat from the pot. Some Filipino housewives don't bother browning the meat and just set it to all boil right away, and so I followed suit.

While my meat was simmering in its own juices and some broth, I went inside to make a coconut cooler with leftover pineapple, some of the coconut cream, lime and lemon juice and rum and ice.

I put a sprig of mint in my cooler to make it pretty and sipped it while cooking adobo.

I put all the rest of the ingredients--chopped garlic, crushed peppercorns, soy sauce, vinegar and bay leaves--and once the meat was cooked through, I put it in a casserole dish to hold until I cooked down the soy mixture with the addition of coconut cream into a saucy consistency.

Once the sauce was like caramel and slightly thickened, I poured it atop the meat. It's not a very pretty dish, but is seriously yummy with some sticky steamed white rice. Comfort for sure.