Chicken Adobo Ketchikan Style

Background

I first ate Chicken Adobo at the Galley Restaurant in Ketchikan, Alaska a number of years ago and loved it. It is spicy, tasty and has lots of onions in it. Well, I have been searching for the secret to the unique flavor of this recipe for some time and finally think I found it, coconut milk. This recipe is modified from the original found at www.allrecipes.com, but not a lot. It lacked onions and had too much sauce when done. Another thing is they use apple cider vinegar. I got good Asian white vinegar and dark soy sauce at the local Asian grocery and have used that in my various Adobo attempts and used it in this one. I highly recommend these over the garden variety vinegar and soy sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 pounds cubed pork meat or one chicken cut into pieces
  
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 to 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup dark soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Asian vinegar
• 5 bay leaves
• 1 (14 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
• Two medium onions, coarsely chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, coarsely ground*

*This is the heat of this dish. You change this as needed. I did not use it the first time, but will next time.

DIRECTIONS

The original recipe had you putting an entire quart of chicken broth in and left out onions. How can you have Adobo without onions? Anyway, I made it the way it says, but added the coconut milk at the beginning and used the full 4 cups of broth. It worked fine, with the exception that it was too juicy for me. Three cups may work out just fine and I will try that next time.

1. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, and cook the pork or chicken until evenly browned
2. Mix the garlic into the meat, and cook 1 minute, until tender. Pour in the coconut oil, chicken broth, soy sauce, and vinegar. Place the bay leaves into the mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, and cook 1 hour, or until the pork is easily shredded with a fork. (For a thicker consistency, blend a small amount of flour with coconut milk, chicken broth, or water, then stir into sauce.) Make sure the meat stays moist and covered with the liquid. If meat looks like it's drying out, add a bit more chicken broth or water.
3. Serve over white or brown rice with a salad and good, cold beer.