Filipino Chicken Adobo

Toronto winter for my mom (also known as baba, lola and nona) is very isolating.  Her mobility

has deteriorated and needs to have 24/7 personal care.  We're very lucky to have a couple of caregiverswho take such good care of her and keep her totally on track with both her medical and nutritional care.   

Over the past several years we've made it possible for her to spend the extreme months in warmer climates.  We took her primary caregiver, Emma, with us to Palm Springs, CA.  Seriously, I have no idea how we would manage without her.  Emma is from the Phillipines and has made many sacrifices to come to Canada under the caregiver program to work towards creating a better life for herself and her family.  While away in California this winter, we decided to create theme dinners and one of them was designed to honour our Emma and prepare one of her favourite dishes - chicken adobo.  

I'd never made chicken adobo before and when I saw the ingredients I somehow didn't see the ingredients complimenting one another.  Boy, was I wrong!  Everybody loved it.  Most importantly, Emma loved it and said it reminded her of home.

Ingredients

4 -5 lbs. chicken thighs
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce (I used light)
12 cloves garlic, crushed
3 bay leaves
Pepper to taste

Directions

In a large dutch oven, add vinegar, soy sauce, crushed garlic, bay leaves and pepper

Add chicken thighs.  Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer with lid on.

Half way through cooking - approximately 1 hr, turn chicken to immerse second side of thighs to sauce.

Braise until chicken is tender, another hour.  Drain chicken, retaining sauce.  Return sauce to pot cooking for another 10 minutes.  Add the chicken back to the pot.

Serve with rice and pour sauce over the top.  Enjoy!