Hi!
I‘m trying to learn healthy ways to make the food my husband and I grew up eating.
So this Chicken Adobo is the very first Filipino dish my father taught me how to make:
6-8 chicken thighs or breasts
1 cup vinegar (apple cider or white)
2 cup soy sauce
6-8 cloves or garlic (no need to dice)
1 medium yellow onion (sliced)
2-4 tbsp Worschestire sauce (optional)
Cook onion and garlic in a 4 qt pot in medium/low. Add chicken and cook a minute each side. Add vinegar followed by soy sauce (do not stir or mix!). Cover. Simmer until chicken is done - there should still be a lot of liquid sauce on the bottom. Add Worschestire sauce at the end to desired sweetness and mix until it’s distributed. Serve with a side of rice and top rice with a little sauce from the pot.
Like all family recipes, it’s done by taste and not measuring but these are measurements I‘ve used over the years. My uncle uses Sprite instead of Worschestire sauce, my aunt uses sugar, etc. If you like sour, add more vinegar, salty add more soy sauce. My family prefers it more on the sour and sweet side. If cooking in Instapot or slow cooker, reduce vinegar to 1/2 cup and soy sauce to 1 cup.
So how do I make this healthy? It’s a staple comfort food dish in my family and very flexible - my grandmother uses salmon belly instead of chicken, my mom uses pork ribs to switch things up etc.
Thanks!
Let me think about it, the obvious is everything organic, use organic free range chicken breast skin off but bone in, that will reduce fat, increase mineral content.. Cook on very low heat for longer time to preserve the omegas in the olive oil, and always use apple cider vinegar, tons of health benefits to it. Let me sit on the rest and think.
Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. As I had texted you I did make this dish with all organic ingredients. I substituted coconut syrup (low glycemic/low calorie sweetener) for sugar and I used organic free range thighs to be the most authentic I could. I served it on a bed of rice that I had cooked in vegetable stock with some broccoli on the side. All in all, using my previous instructions and sticking to an organic worschestire sauce that is low in sugar and definitely does not contain High Fructose Cornsyrup, this dish won't be too unhealthy. I would avoid dousing it in a ton of sauce when you serve but mostly it's what you prepare with it that will make it more healthy or unhealthy.