Mexican adobo is a seasoning. Filipino adobo is a dish. It is stewing with vinegar. The Spaniards came to the Philippines during the 16th century and named it adobo. The Chinese traders during those days introduced the use of soy sauce. Hence, Filipino adobo as known today uses it for pork, chicken, seafood (with squid, its black ink is used. If not used, the cook is branded unskilled.), and a few adobo leafy vegetables.

In other Asian countries, fried rice is served during lunch or dinner time. In Manila, it is a breakfast staple. The basic ingredients are rice, cooking oil, soy sauce and garlic. Some cooks who are daring like my lola (grandma), vetsin AKA monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the name of the game. Herfolktale about vetsin, it is made of Chinese babies’ bones. To strengthen her tale, she had asked me a few times: “Have you seen Chinese baby graves when we go to the cemetery during All Souls Day?“ (It was easy to spot a baby gravesite during those days when we visited my younger baby sister’s grave, they were entombed above the ground in concrete chambers.) Instead of flower offerings, the Chinese have food on top of the graves but sometimes some hunger-stricken mourners/visitors feast on it. We have high regard for Chinese food. (Here, it’s regarded only as convenient take-out food. Chinese food in Manila is cooked the way it is. I asked my hubby who came ahead of us a year earlier— why is Chinese food here like this?) Anyway, in the mid 60′s memorial parks started, no more eerie concrete chambers. Everyone went six feet under. The parks look peaceful instead of scary.

My lola mostly made Fried Rice on weekends when we have time to savor the goodness of main dishes she cooked with Fried Rice like Daing na Bangus (deboned milkfish cut open, marinated in vinegar, salt & garlic), Tapa (somehow lost in translation during the Spanish era; thinly sliced beef sirloin marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, pepper & garlic) or Tocino (thinly sliced pork shoulder or belly marinated in garlic, red food coloring, Prague powder, pepper, sugar) and more breakfast dishes serve with egg that has boiled down into one dish meal when ordered in restaurants today. SAMPLES: Daing na Bangus=Daingsilog combination of daing, si nagag (fried rice), itlog (egg, sunny side up or scrambled); Tapa=Tapsilog (tapa-sinangag-itlog) and Tocino = Tosilog (to cino-si nagag-itlog) and lots more combination (see here).

In the 80′s, probably for ease of ordering, a lady started this trend in her restaurant in Marikina, a suburb of Manila. Anyhow, almost everyone wants egg with fried rice is a given. Nowadays, it can be found in Asian restaurants serving semblance of Filipino dishes around the world where there is large Filipino community.

During a celebration of a family friend’s new DIY Kitchen, I made a Fried Rice Chicken Adobo. Chicken Adobo is so easy to make. In 30 minutes you have a dish. It is a dish for a lazy bone, a convenient dish for 9-5 moms or for “How to Boil Water” type person (remember Tyler Florence’s show). I used organic coconut oil (see here the brand I use, they used to call it extra virgin coconut oil, read their reason why extra virgin was withdrawn from the label) for this particular occasion. The sister of the host asked, “What did you add to the dish?” I replied, “nothing except I used coconut oil instead.” If a Bolivian can tell the difference from a regular fried rice compared to the one that uses coconut oil, so can you. Haven’t you notice, curry dishes with coconut milk are the yummiest due to the 17 amino acids in coconut(see here)? “The answer is umami – the taste stimulated by the amino acid glutamate, a key component of protein. Our mouths know good protein when they taste it” (see here).

I seldom use organic coconut oil due to the prohibitive price of the brand I use. Then, it was only available only at health stores. A few months ago, the grocery store I shop at started carrying it. Per ounce, it is as expensive as EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) sold in specialty shops. Price of coconut products might go down when the craze for anything coconut has leveled off. I wish!

Ingredients:
Note: pkg/package - Tbsp/tablespoon - pkg/package – tsp/teaspoon

Cooking Rice: (ideally cooked the night before making fried rice)
3 cups Jasmine brown or white rice (best tasting rice from Asia)
3-3/4 cups water

For Pork Adobo:
3 Tbsp cooking oil
1 pkg baby bella
1-1/2 lb pork belly or pork shoulder, cut into small pieces
2 cups water
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup vinegar
6 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp peppercorns
4 dried bay leaves

For Fried Rice:
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 cup ginger, peeled & sliced thinly
6 minced garlic for sautéing
2 cups pork adobo
3 Tbsp pork adobo sauce
1-1/2 cups broccoli florets, blanched
1 pkg broccoli slaw

Instructions:

Cooking Rice:

1. It’s better to cook the rice the night before making the fried rice (normally leftover rice from dinner is used), to be sure the rice is completely free of moisture. It will not stick to the skillet (of course, you have to scrape the bottom of skillet once in a while with a steel turner) and will not look like fried rice pudding. If same day cooked rice will be used, after cooking, spread out rice on a cookie sheet pan and place in the oven for 20 minutes @ 200 degrees F.
2. To start, wash rice and drain well.
3. Pour 3 cups water into the rice cooker and cook according rice cooker requirement. If using a regular pot, place on high heat, don’t cover until it boils. Lower the heat to medium low until the water has been absorbed, then cover the pot and put on lowest heat for another 5 minutes. (An ideal alternative to rice cooker is a Japanese Donabe pot made of special clay for use over open flame. It is a clay pot similar to the ones use in serving Bibimbap in Korean restaurants, see here and can also be use for stewing or braising, available at Japanese or big Chinese groceries.)

Cooking Pork Adobo:

1. Pour oil in pot and saute mushrooms for about 15 minutes.
2. Add water, soy sauce, bay leaves, and pork pieces. Let boil for 5 minutes, then simmer for about 20 minutes or until pork pieces are tender while stirring it occasionally.

Making Fried Rice:

1. Pour coconut oil in wok or 12” skillet.
2. Add the ginger to the skillet on medium heat, while constantly stir-frying. Then add minced garlic, stir-fry until it starts to change color.
3. On medium heat, add the rice, pork adobo, mix for about 5 minutes and scrape the bottom of skillet once in a while to avoid sticking and burning the rice.
4. Lastly, add the broccoli florets, broccoli slaw and gently toss the rice for about 3 minutes or until they are well mixed.
5. Serve warm.

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