Chicken Adobo with Balut! by Mikee Jean Cionelo

This is an equally delicious version of Adobo. I adopted this recipe to my Lola's Recipe. This Adobo with Balut is our family's favorite.

If you’re not a big fan of Balut(Duck developing embryo), mash all the yellow parts of the balut coarsely and let it fry together with the bits of garlic and pepper, this will give your Adobo another kind of twist to it.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 kilo Chicken,  cut into smaller serving sizes

5- 10 Pieces of cooked Balut

 Marinade: (mix everything is a small bowl)

1 Tbsp. Freshly Ground black pepper

1 cup Soy Sauce

½ cup Vinegar (or lesser if you don’t like the taste of vinegar)

                                                        2-3 pcs Laurel Leaves

                                                        2 Heads Cloves of garlic peeled & smashed 

(you can add more if you really like garlic, this will add more aroma and flavor to the Adobo)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine the cleaned / washed chicken and Balut, drain very well, then pour the marinade.   Mix it  very well and let it stand for at least 30 minutes to 1-hour. But I prefer it to marinate it overnight. When ready to cook, take out all the chicken and balut (in separate container) from the marinade (set it aside and we’ll use it later).    In a big pan, sauté garlic until it is light brown, then put chicken,  let it sauté in the garlic on medium high heat for about 5-10 minutes, then add the balut. 

 When a bit brown, add in the marinade and let it continue to simmer, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. and if you like it to be more saucy, add about ½ cup of water, if not and you want it to be with lesser sauce, just let it simmer for another 10-20 minutes more or until tender, and also, you can mashed some of yellow part of the balut to make the sauce a bit thicker. Adjust taste by adding salt if needed and you can serve it  over hot rice. Enjoy!