Chicken Adobo with Braised Peppercorns

The famously spectacular and surprisingly simple Filipino dish should be next up on your hit list.

Stop everything you're doing and make this dish by Chef Angela Dimayuga, from Mission Chinese Food. This slow cooked, traditional Filipino chicken dish is a perfectly unfussy main course for big groups. I like to simmer mine for a couple hours over low heat so that the meat just falls off the bone, but the dish can be ready in just over an hour if you're in a rush. You'll know when the dish is ready. Oh, and don't forget to swap the coconut vinegar with this fancy rice wine vinegar, if you get the chance.

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Chicken Adobo

by Angela Dimayuga

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

• 15 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

• 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns, plus 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• ½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes

• 4 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken drumsticks and thighs

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

• ½ cup coconut vinegar (I use my fancy rice wine vinegar, see above)

• ½ cup soy sauce

• 8 fresh bay leaves

• Cooked rice, for serving

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1. In a large dutch oven, heat the coconut oil over medium-high until shimmering. Add the garlic, whole peppercorns, freshly ground pepper and red-pepper flakes, drop the temperature to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is toasted and softened and mixture is fragrant, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and cook over medium-high, undisturbed, until fat starts to render, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the coconut milk, coconut vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves and 1 cup water (or enough to submerge the chicken), and let the mixture come to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken feels loosened and just about falling off the bone, stirring halfway through, about 1 hour.

4. Increase the temperature to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened to a velvety gravy, about 15 minutes. Serve chicken and sauce over rice.

recipe courtesy NY Times Cooking.