Creamy Coconut Adobo Chicken

Creamy Coconut Adobo Chicken


Adobo is a Philippine way of cooking in a marinade of vinegar, garlic, and soy sauce. The recipes for that marinade vary by family and household. Even if the ingredients remain the same, the proportions can vary to result in entirely different tastes. You can have adobo chicken, pork, beef, squid…it goes with everything. It is sweet and tangy and, like arroz caldo, a wonderful comfort food.

This version of adobo chicken uses coconut milk to create a creamy sauce.

Adobo:
1 ½ cups rice vinegar
1 cup coconut milk
¼ cup soy sauce
1 head garlic, peeled and crushed
3 bay leaves
Ground pepper
3 lbs boneless chicken thighs

Mix all adobo ingredients together in a sealable bowl and add chicken. I prefer to use the boneless chicken thighs, they take the flavors well and don’t dry out in the cooking like breast meat can. Cover bowl and let rest in refrigerator at least overnight.

Adobo cooks with a strong aroma. Traditionally, we’ll make sure all the laundry is put away and the bedroom doors are shut before firing up the pan.
Heat the adobo to a boil in a large non-stick saucepan over a high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer,stirring occasionally to keep chicken covered in sauce. The chicken will take about 10-15 minutes to cook thru. Remove the chicken from the sauce.

Bring the sauce to a boil on high heat until thick - about 15 minutes. I break-up any remaining garlic with wooden spoon as it boils to incorporate it to the sauce. Remove the bay leaves when done and add chicken back to sauce to coat and heat.

Serve with white rice and steamed broccolli.

A note on leftovers: this is a meal that you want leftovers. Overnight, the flavors in the cooked adobo continue to mull and layer. Once I even made the entire meal for company a day ahead, just so that it could sit in the refrigerator overnight before I served it.