Sticky Rice Adobo

The Philippines is blessed with over 7,000 islands. Its population is composed of 120 different ethnic groups and its people mostly planted the lands with rice.

With the Spaniards ruling over the country for 300 years, and the American culture highly influential in the Filipino psyche, not much has changed the Filipino eating habits.

Filipinos are still rice eaters, in spite of the 34 billion peso estimated consumer spending on bread for the year 2005. Steamed rice remains the staple food and is usually taken for breakfast, lunch, dinner or merienda (snack).

Steamed Rice

Before the Americans introduced the use of rice cookers, Filipinos have been cooking rice in pots and pans. Rice is usually measured by the cups, depending on the number of servings.

Rice is washed thoroughly over running water, removing other grains from the harvest.

Water is drained from the rice and washed twice until the water runs clear. The amount of water to keep in the pot is often just estimated to ensure the rice does not become soggy or dry.

Rice is then cooked over fire until it boils, then heat is lowered for cooking the whole pot evenly.

The food of the Philippines requires no special skills as food is mostly sauteed or stewed, boiled, braised or fried.

Because of its tropical climate, and since refrigeration was not possible before the Americans introduced technology into cooking, the style of food preparation was mostly done to allow cooking in large quantities while improving the food's taste even if it is stored without refrigeration. As such, most of the popular dishes are cooked with vinegar or a souring ingredient.

Adobo Recipe

Steamed rice is often paired with the Philippines' national dish adobo.

The dish consists of chunks of either chicken or pork cooked in soy sauce and vinegar with garlic, black pepper and bay leaf.

It is so popular throughout the country but even though there are different ways of preparing the dish, and fowl or fish can be used as alternative ingredients, most recipes maintain the taste of adobo with the distinct mixture of vinegar and soy sauce succulent from the meat.

Adobo is prepared by sauteing garlic in oil until it is golden brown. Pork or chicken is added and stir-fried until brown.

Others add chicken liver to add taste. Vinegar, water and soy sauce are then added into the mixture then simmered for around 30 minutes. Peppercorn and salt is added, while some people use a sprinkle of sugar or patis (fish sauce). Simmering is done until meat becomes tender. Some people prefer adobo with a lot of sauce, while others let the sauce dry up.

Adobo is also used as a style of cooking and is applied to vegetables (adobong kangkong- water spinach), fish or fowl.