In the Philippines, the dish called "adobo" is popular and even considered as one of the country's symbol for its national food. But adobo, like many other recipes or dishes in the Philippines has so many variation reaching more than 100 varieties, in fact, every provinces in the Philippines has their own version of adobo. Adobong puti (White Adobo), Adobong dilaw (yellow Adobo), Crispy shrimp adobo, Adobo with coconut milk, and adobong kang kong are just a few of these varieties. For this article I am going to share one of the version of adobo that I learned from my father when I was still residing with my parents back then. This variation is called "Adobong natural"
Short description:
Unlike any other adobo, this dish does not contain soy sauce which gives the common adobo it's brown to black colored appearance. Adobong natural do not need a lot of ingredients so it's cheaper than the common one and in terms of preparation, its way more easier as well.
Ingredients:
1/2 Kg pork (Loin part)
1/2 Kg pork belly (If you want a cheaper one just buy 1 kg of pork with at least 1/3 of pork fats)
1 Knob garlic ( chopped/sliced)
2 Laurel leaves
1 tsp. grind pepper
Salt
MSG (optional)
Procedure:
heat the pan and put the pork sliced in medium size then pour 1 cup of water. Add salt and pepper then cover it up and let it simmer for at least 15 mins.
After 15 mins., add the chopped garlic and laurel leaves then put back the cover and simmer it again until the water evaporates but don't let it dry out too much.
Let the pork release its natural oil and gradually add a little bit of water if it dries out so that it won't burn the pork and the pan as well. Repeat this process until the pork turns brown to golden brown in color just like in the picture above.
Finally, when it turns to golden brown, add salt and season it with MSG(depends on your taste ) and mix it well then serve.
Note: Don't forget to transfer the buy product (Oil) to a jar or a bottle. You can use it just like the usual cooking oil we use at home only it is way more tastier because it was produced and extracted from pork fats with ingredients so it's the best oil to use in "sinangag" or " ginisa".
A friendly advice:
If in case your time is limited and you're running out of time, I don't recommend this recipe because it's quite time consuming but if you have plenty of time then trying this dish is not an option. However, if you really wanted this dish then adjust your time if you wanted to.
