Pork Belly Adobo

I went through a chicken adobo phase immediately after the New York Times came out with this article. That was almost two years ago, so the dish had inevitably fallen out of my cooking rotation and was forgotten. My primary dining companion, aka my boyfriend, suggested adobo when I was scraping the bottom of my mental barrel for dinner ideas. Since I have been meh about chicken recently, I thought I'd upgrade the dish with pork. A trip to Whole Foods later, I had four pounds of locally raised pork belly ready for marinating. I made a slightly different marinade than what was written in the Times article (pasted below), basically a little more soy, a little raw sugar, and no coconut milk. I added organic coconut cream at the end of cooking to thicken the sauce instead. It turned out much better than I expected, and I expected delicious. With pork belly and coconut, I thought the dish would be oily and heavy, but the vinegar balanced it all. The flavor was an unique combination of porky, spicy, and sour.


HOW TO:

Cut the pork belly into 1-2 inch size cubes.

 Marinate with soy, rice vinegar, garlic, chilies, bay leaves, and lots of pepper for at least 4 hours.

Simmer everything together with a cup or so of water for an hour to an hour and a half or until the pork is tender. Add creamed coconut toward the end. Remove the pieces to a sheet pan and broil until browned and slight crispy. Meanwhile, reduce the remaining sauce until thickened. Serve all together with rice.



TIP:

Use Mizkan's brown rice vinegar. It makes for a much smoother vinegar flavor.

Chicken Adobo

By SAM SIFTON

1 cup coconut milk

¼ cup soy sauce

1½ cup rice vinegar

12 garlic cloves, peeled

3 whole bird’s-eye chilies or other fiery chili

3 bay leaves

1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

3 to 4 pounds chicken thighs.

1. Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a large, nonreactive bowl or resealable plastic freezer bag. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

2. Place chicken and marinade in a large lidded pot or Dutch oven over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, around 30 minutes.

3. Heat broiler. Transfer chicken pieces to a large bowl, raise heat under the pot to medium-high, and reduce the sauce until it achieves almost the consistency of cream, about 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves and chilies.

4. Place chicken pieces on a roasting pan and place under broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, until they begin to caramelize. Remove, turn chicken, baste with sauce and repeat, 3 to 5 minutes more. Return chicken to sauce and cook for a few minutes more, then place on a platter and drizzle heavily with sauce. Serves four. Adapted from Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan, Purple Yam restaurant, Brooklyn.