Variations on Filipino Adobo: Spice Paste

I keep imagining what Filipino food would be like if the Spanish influence was scaled down to a minimum. I keep looking at Indonesian cuisine and Malaysian cuisine; all three countries have a shared history and culture. Perhaps that kind of Filipino food already exists in the southern islands, but there is another factor that I would like to add in: being a Filipino in California. What happens to Filipino food if the use of spice pastes became more common, just like in Indonesia and Malaysia? What does California- Malay-amplified- Filipino diasporic cuisine look like? What if the Fujian influence was amplified? What if the South Indian influence was amplified?

**edit: As with all adobos, I suggest not eating this on the same day. Adobo tastes better the following day. My theory is that the vinegar mellows out and the meat marinates even longer.

Ingredients:

• chicken legs and thighs, attached, skin on, bone in, 3 each (total of 3 thighs and three legs)
• soy sauce, 1/2 cup
• cane vinegar, 3/4 cup
• water, 2 cups
• coconut milk, 1 can
• garlic cloves, 10 each
• shallots, slice into large chunks, 4 large
• fresh turmeric, sliced unpeeled, 2-inch piece
• cilantro stems, roughly chopped, 2 tablespoons
• limes, 2 each
• ground coriander, 1 teaspoon
• bay leaves, 5 each
• whole black peppercorns, 2 tablespoons
• tomato paste, 2 tablespoons
• kale, ribbed, cut into 1-inch pieces, 1/2 bunch
• brown sugar, 2 tablespoons
• sea salt, to taste
• grapeseed or any neutral oil, 2 tablespoons

Season chicken with salt. Set aside.

Make a spice paste with garlic cloves, shallots, fresh turmeric, cilantro stems, 3 strips of lime zest, and ground coriander using a food processor or an immersion blender. Set aside.

Heat grapeseed oil over high heat in a heavy bottomed pot. Sear chicken legs and thighs on both sides until skin is golden brown. Lower heat, remove chicken from the pot and set aside.

Slowly and carefully add in the spice paste and gradually increase the heat to medium. Cook the spice paste until fragrant and darkens in color. Add the tomato paste and cook until the mixture starts to coat the bottom of the pot.

Add the chicken back into the pot along with the bay leaves and peppercorns. Pour in the soy sauce, vinegar and water. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat and simmer for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, uncover, and increase heat to medium high, and simmer for 15 more minutes.

Pour in coconut milk and mix in brown sugar. Simmer for 15 more minutes or until the sauce thickens to a consistency of heavy cream.

Turn off heat and add in kale. Let the residual heat of the curry wilt the greens. Adjust seasoning and add in lime juice. Garnish with cilantro leaves. Eat with jasmine rice.

Variations on Filipino Adobo: Coconut Milk

I am currently in a deep dive into the Philippines' pre-colonial history. I have so many thoughts and feelings that haven't solidified. It might take a while to put them into words. One thing that I now completely understand is that cultures do not exist in isolation.

Before the Philippine Islands were unified under Spanish control, it consisted of separate Austronesian sovereign states heavily influenced by empires all over Asia via the Maritime Silk Road: the Song and Yuan Dynasties influenced the north (Pangasinan was a tributary state where the Yongle Emperor became an honorary leader), the Sultanate of Brunei, the Majapahit and Srivijaya Empires (which the Visayas region is named after), and the Chola Empire of South India (a minor prince from the empire saw opportunity to establish his own Rajahnate in the island now called Cebu, effectively including the region in the Indosphere). Pre-colonial Filipinos welcomed Islam, Buddhist, and Hindu influences.

I am beginning to understand why Filipino cuisine is difficult to define because it has so many layers of history and influences. It explains why we have dishes similar to curries of other South and Southeast Asian regions. Today I made pork adobo with coconut milk. The use of coconut milk is probably a direct influence of the Chola Empire of South India where the use of coconuts are ubiquitous. In the Philippines, the use of coconut milk is typically found in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, where this variation was probably born. I added kale in the recipe. It is completely optional. I just needed to eat some greens.

Ingredients:

• pork roast shoulder, excess fat trimmed, cut into 1-inch cubes, 3 lbs.
• soy sauce, 1/2 cup
• cane vinegar, 3/4 cup
• water, 1/2 cup
• coconut milk, unsweetened, 1/2 can
• garlic cloves, crushed, 10 each
• red onion, small dice, 1 large
• green onions, sliced, white parts separated from green, 3 stalks
• Anaheim chili, split in half lengthwise, seeded and cut into thirds, 1 each
• bay leaves, 5 each
• whole black peppercorns, 2 tablespoons
• brown sugar, 2 tablespoons
• sea salt, to taste
• grapeseed oil, 2 tablespoons

Season the pork with salt. Allow it to sit at room temperature while you prepare the vegetables, but no more than 45 minutes.

Heat oil on high flame in a heavy bottomed pot. Sear pork on two sides until brown but not completely cooked. You want to develop a fond at the bottom of the pot. Take pork off the pot and set aside.

Add onions, white part of the green onion, and garlic cloves in the pot and saute until fragrant and onion is translucent. Make sure to scrape the fond at the bottom of the pot at this stage.

Add the bay leaves, and whole peppercorns in the pot along with the seared pork.

Pour in the vinegar, soy sauce, and water. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat to medium, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Uncover and pour in coconut milk and then add the chili. Bring back to a boil, and then lower heat to medium and simmer until pork is tender, around 30 minutes. During simmering add in the brown sugar.

Turn off heat then stir in green part of green onion. Eat with jasmine rice.