Tasty Gluten Free Filipino Chicken Adobo

A few weeks ago our Filipino friend (He came to our home for Bible study and dinner during his junior and senior years of college in 2007-09) came up to visit our family.  I always wanted him to teach me how to cook something Filipino.  Well the best he could do was send me a link for a recipe for chicken adobo from Amateur Gourmet.   This site filled me in that chicken adobo is an easy to prepare Asian chicken dish that is cooked in rice vinegar and soy sauce (gluten free tamari for us gluten free people) and is different from Mexican chicken adobo.  

I just checked this out on Food Network and they have the chicken marinade in the adobo sauce for 1-3 hours and then simmer it about 50 minutes.  I also like the recipe on  All Recipes that is for 3 pounds of chicken; they suggest you use 1/3 cup of rice vinegar and 2/3 cup of soy sauce, 2 T of minced garlic, 1 bay leaf and 1 T black pepper.  One of the comments from a Chinese-Filipino said they soften the strong vinegar flavor of authentic Filipino adobo by adding 4-5 T of rock sugar (just use brown), 1-2 star of anise, and 1/3 cup coconut milk. 

While eating this dish, a lot of us felt the rice vinegar flavor was a bit strong.  Ken told us it was very authentic and how Filipino's like to eat it.   Ken told me I could add more tamari to my plate, So I added a capful, and it came out great.  Next time I will tweak it according to some of the suggestions I added below.

Gluten Free Chicken Adobo

1.  Cut chicken:  Rinse 5 pounds of chicken legs/thighs/wings and then chop or cut them apart with kitchen shears.

2.  Prepare vegetables:

(1)  Separate two heads of garlic  (Foodnetwork's recipe just has 4 cloves of crushed garlic)

(2)  Cut 1 large onion into 8 wedges

(3)  Slice up 1/2 cup of ginger  (I noticed a lot of sites didn't include this--put the amount you like)

Note:  I asked Ken at dinner if I could have minced the garlic and ginger, and he said yes.  Like many Asian dishes, they are subject to a lot of personal touches.  I noticed a lot of people didn't touch the ginger slices or garlic. 

3.  Adobo sauce - Stir together in a glass bowl:

(1)   Pour in 1 1/2 cups rice vinegar    (Foodnetwork has 1/2 cup of rice vinegar)

(2)   Stir in 1/2 cup tamari                   (Foodnetwork has 1/2 cup of soy sauce (tamari) )

(3)  Add 10 peppercorns and 4 bay leaves.

Note:  Ken told us later at dinner that it is up to the cook if you want the adobo to be more sour (use the amount of rice vinegar listed here) or more salty (decrease the amount of rice vinegar and increase the amount of tamari).  Next time I am going to use 1 cup rice vinegar and 1 cup tamari.

3.  Prepare chicken adobo in Dutch oven:

(1)  Put 3-4 T of coconut oil into a dutch oven

(2)  Brown batches of chicken in the oil.  The recipe says the flavor of this dish is going to depend on how well you brown the chicken!    When it's done,  take chicken out and put in a covered dish.  One site said you don't have to take the chicken out, just add the vegetables and cook them together.

(3)  Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and cook until the onion is soft.

(4)  Then add the chicken back in.

(5)  Stir the sauce in the pot of chicken and vegetables.
(6)  Simmer the chicken for 40-45 minutes.

Serve with rice.

List of other  recipes with chicken legs/thighs on this blog:

Asian:
Gluten Free Soy Sauce Chicken   (Modified from Internet search)
Tasty Gluten Free Filipino Chicken Adobo  (Modified from Internet search)
Gluten Free Sweet & Sour Chicken (From my church cookbook, Come & Dine)

Italian & Greek:
Chicken Souvlaki   (Marinade for chicken from my son-in-law)
Gluten Free Chicken Cacciatore With Peppers & Mushrooms  (Modified from Internet search)
Delicious Gluten Free Chicken Parmesan   (From my church cookbook, Come & Dine)

Mexican:
Pollo Guisado (Mexican Braised Chicken)  (From a church friend in Phoenix)

American Favorites:
Amazing BBQ Chicken    (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
The Best Gluten Free Oven Fried Chicken   (From my sister-in-law)
Fantastic Gluten Free Chicken Kabobs  (From my church cookbook, Come & Dine)
Great for Summer BBQ - Lemon Rosemary Chicken Legs  (From my church cookbook, Come & Dine)