Adobong Talong

 Adobo is both a cooking technique and a dish. It came from the Spanish word adobar - to marinate. I guess when the Spaniards came and saw this cooking technique, they called it adobo. It's completely different from Latin America's adobo, and it's pre-colonial name is lost forever (BOO!). It is widely known today as meat - typically pork - marinated in a mixture of either cane or coconut vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, onion, bay leaves, and black peppercorns, and then simmered in the same marinade. During pre-colonial times though, adobo is pork cooked with just the vinegar, a little bit of water, and salt in a clay pot.

It's sort of the national dish of the Philippines, and each household have their own versions. Today I revisited an adobo recipe that I've done before made of eggplants and tofu. Previously, I made it with bagoong alamang shrimp paste and discovered that the dish is too pungent and intense. So I redid the recipe by omitting the shrimp paste and made it a little sweeter by adding caramelized asian pear sauce and replaced black peppercorns with young green peppercorn in brine - an ingredient typical in Thai food.

3 large Japanese eggplants, cut into thirds, then each third cut in half exposing the flesh
1 package extra firm tofu, cut into roughly one inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of large onion, small dice
4 sprigs young green peppercorn in brine
3 bay leaves
1 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 cups cane or coconut vinegar
1 large asian pear, peeled and finely minced
1/4 cup palm sugar

I first made a caramel out of the palm sugar. Palm sugar comes in blocks so shave it down as small as you can. Place the sugar in a small sauce pot. Add water just enough to make it wet. Cook over high flame until it turns dark amber in color, then carefully add in the minced pear. Cook it down until most of liquid is gone and the puree turns golden brown. Set aside.

Heat oil on high in a wok or sautoir then place eggplants flesh side down. Fry until flesh is golden brown then set aside. Add a little more oil in the pan then brown sides of cubed tofu, set aside. Then add in onions, fry until caramelized. Add in garlic, fry until fragrant. Pour in soy sauce and vinegar then add in green peppercorns and bay leaves. Simmer and reduce for about 7 minutes then add back in the eggplants, tofu, and pear sauce. Mix gently, cover, then simmer until eggplants are fork-tender. Serve with jasmine rice.

Palm sugar is another atypical ingredient in Filipino cuisine but can be found in other Southeast Asian cuisines particularly the cuisine of Thailand. I chose to make a caramel with palm sugar because it's more flavorful yet let less sweeter than white sugar. While caramelizing, it also has this sharp smell almost identical to the sharp smell of fish sauce. I used Asian pear because I was inspired by a Korean dish that used the fruit as a sweetener. Young green peppercorns have this kind of pepper flavor that is green and almost piney. It's also soft and pops in your mouth as you bite into it. It's the perfect flavor to cut into the saltiness, sharpness, and tang of the dish.