Chicken Adobo with Quail Eggs and Potatoes, Sauteed Carrots, Jasmine Rice

Mabuhay Kababayan!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It depends on who you ask and you will most likely get a long winded answer from that person. However, if you ask me, my answer is, “Who cares? Have both!” Why complicate life asking this question when you can eat wonderfully. Try my version of chicken adobo that includes quail eggs and you won’t care which came first. If you pop both the chicken and egg in your mouth, then you won’t care about the answer anymore because you’ll be too busy enjoying the savory sensations in your tongue while your tummy growls in anticipation.

This week’s Pinoy meal is chicken adobo with quail eggs and potatoes and served with rice and sautéed carrots. This is a very nutritious meal (meat + veggies + starch) and it’s one of my favorite dishes to cook for myself and it is also my boyfriend’s favorite, except without the quail eggs. I’ve been making adobo (chicken and pork) for him since we started going out over 2.5 years ago and he’s loved each of them. I am glad that he did because each adobo that I cook is a tiny bit different from each other. I don’t measure anything when I cook and instead, I use the senses that God gave me. I “eye it” when I cook in addition to using my taste buds, nose, and teeth, which I use to check doneness. My Lola Liling cooks exactly like this and my goal is to cook like her—TO BE ONE with my dish. My advice to you is to not be afraid to get dirty in the kitchen—touch, smell, look, use your common sense as my Daddy told me many times growing up, and taste your cooking. Just don’t eat raw meat and wash your hands after each time you touch meat! Also, don’t be afraid to mess up in the kitchen. For example, I was moving the ingredients around in the pot too hard and one of the eggs jumped out. I didn’t freak out and put the egg back in. No one is there watching you so you can do whatever you want. Just make sure everything is cooked before eating.

I decided on quail eggs as the twist ingredient because it is exotic and I knew that it wouldn’t change the overall taste of the dish at all if I added it. I also thought of adding fried tofu to this dish and I know that it will also go well with this dish because fried tofu holds its form during the cooking process and it doesn’t have a particular taste that will change the adobo flavor that we all love. My boyfriend was skeptical and said that it was hard for him to imagine how the adobo that he loves so much would taste with quail eggs. I told him not to worry about it because hard boiled quail eggs do not have much taste so it wouldn’t interfere with the adobo sauce. He agreed that the hard boiled quail eggs only changed the flavor once you bite into the egg as you chew the rest of the adobo and rice in your mouth. However, he wasn’t so keen on the quail eggs because he loves my original version so I learned tonight that I can nix the quail eggs if he’s eating with me.

In terms of budget, I purchased 4 bunches of garlic (it came in a pack), cane vinegar, premium soy sauce (soy sauce is used many times in Pinoy dishes so it’s good to invest in good quality of soy sauce), chicken, canned hardboiled quail eggs, bay leaves, and 2 lbs of carrots for less than $10. All of these ingredients were purchased from the nearest Vietnamese grocery store.

As you know, I have my boyfriend’s mom’s cookbook as reference for my Pinoy cooking adventure, and for this dish that I already know by heart to make, I consulted it because I was curious. The author provided the barest chicken adobo possible and I believe that it lacks the vavavoom factor of my own adobo. My own adobo includes sugar and sugar cane vinegar, which is common to use in the Philippines and is easily available in the USA. Additionally, my adobo tastes better because I use more garlic. I believe in the awesome power of garlic and that you can’t have too much garlic. Lastly, I use more bay leaves that I cut up into smaller pieces so that I can evenly disperse the flavor in the pot. So with this claim, I will give you the recipe of how I made my own version of chicken adobo meal.

Chicken Adobo with Quail Eggs, Potatoes, served with Sautéed Carrots and Jasmine Rice (Adobong Manok Na May Itlog ng Pugo, Patatas, at Kasama ng Karots)

Serves: 4 people

My Cooking + Prep Time: approximately 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 lbs of boneless chicken thighs (or whatever is on sale that day)
5-6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup of sugar cane vinegar (Silver Swan Cane Vinegar) or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of premium soy sauce (Remember: vinegar and soy sauce has a 1 to 1 ratio for adobo)
2-3 dried bay leaves, chopped into 2-3 pieces, depending on your preference because you want to pick them out later on as you eat since they’re not edible.
1-2 potatoes, chopped 1 inch cubes
1 can of quail eggs or 4 hardboiled eggs
3-5 carrots, chopped to your preference and number of carrots dependent on how many carrots each person wants to eat. Personally for this dish, to contrast the circular shape of the quail eggs, I made julienne carrots, which are thin and vertical.
1 tbsp of olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Cooked jasmine rice

Cooking Directions:
1) Place chicken in cooking pot (3 quarts pot) and season both sides of the chicken evenly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add garlic and massage garlic into both sides of the chicken. Pour soy sauce and vinegar, and then mix ingredients evenly with hand. Wash hands and add enough water in the pot to cover the chicken but not more than that. Cover the pot and cook the chicken in medium heat for 20 minutes.

2) While the chicken is cooking, cook the rice, either using the stove top or rice cooker.
*One a side note, I started cooking rice when I was 5 years old and I have 1 year experience cooking rice on the ancient clay stoves in the Philippines. So my advice is to always keep in mind the 1 to 2 ratio: 1 cup of rice equals 2 cups of water. For those out there who can cook rice well without using measuring cups but using their fingers, well I can do that too of course!

3) Once the rice is on the stove or rice cooker along with the chicken, chop the carrots, potatoes, and then wash any materials you used. It is best to stay busy so that there isn’t a huge clean up later. However, use your nose to make sure the chicken isn’t burning and watch for the time. Set up a timer for yourself if you aren’t experience multi-tasking.

4) Once the 20 minutes are over, add the hard boiled quail eggs and potatoes. Cover and cook until potatoes and chicken are tender, usually 20-30 minutes depending on the chicken and potatoes.

5) While the chicken is in its last 20-30 minutes of cooking, sauté the carrots by pouring 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and adding the carrots. Season carrots evenly with salt and pepper. Keep stirring the carrots around until they are cooked to your preference—some people like al dente vegetables like me and others like their veggies to be cooked down.

As I said previously, you can only truly find out if something is done if you bite into it. Usually I check for tenderness when I am cooking but this time around, but my boyfriend who was studying for his CPA exam couldn’t help himself and wandered into the kitchen. He was lured by the smell and offered to check for doneness. He bit into the potatoes and chicken and he found them to be tender. He knows that I’m picky with my veggies so he let me keep the veggies just a little hard. I like to hear the crunch of my veggies which contrasts the softness of the rice, adobo sauce, eggs, and chicken.

I know that I’m tooting my own horn but this is the best version of chicken adobo meal that I have made. The sweet carrots complement the tartness of the adobo sauce while the quail eggs provide an exotic aspect to the traditional and well beloved Pinoy dish. Hopefully, I can recreate this next time since I don’t use measuring cups!

Mas Masarap!
_________________________________________________________________________________
Filipino Dictionary:
*Mabuhay = hello or literally, long live!
*Kababayan = compatriot
*Pinoy or Pinay = shortened version of the word Filipino, male and female conjugation
*Manok = chicken
*Pugo = quail
*Patatas = potatoes
*Karots = carrots
*Kasama = with
*Mas Masarap = very tasty

Giniling na Baka at Edamame (Beef Picadillo with Soy Beans)

I love the show, Iron Chef, with the original entertaining Japanese chefs. So using that format, I decided that for this dish and maybe future cooking adventures, I will have ingredients that I will add to the traditional Filipino dishes that aren't usually added to them. If you know me, you know that I like to be creative, adventurous, and healthy. I was raised to have veggies in every meal and this has stuck to me until now. So for this time around, our twist is SOY BEANS!


I heard that soy beans are rich in nutrients and aren’t necessarily found in Filipino dishes. The Filipino food that comes up to mind with soy is TAHO or soy bean curd in caramel sauce with tapioca balls. But I haven’t eaten anything else with soy in it. Thus, I decided to add my favorite beans to this dish! Edamame can be found in the frozen vegetable section of your local Asian grocery store. Most likely, a Japanese store will carry this since edamame is a staple in Japanese cuisine.

In addition to edamame, you can use any bell pepper for the dish. Traditionally, this dish is cooked with red or green bell peppers but thanks to technology, we now have access to yellow and orange bell peppers. However, since these are costlier than green bell peppers, I suggest tailoring this dish according to your budget.

My little sister bought all the ingredients for me except the seasonings which I already have in my pantry. The total cost for this dish was $6 which is under my targeted goal of $10. If you have the mind of an accountant like me, then here’s the itemized list: ~$2 for the ground beef, ~$.50 for the garlic, $1 for the tomato, $1 for the potato, $1 for the soy beans, $.50 for the onion and the remaining amount is for the soy sauce, oil, and seasonings.

Serve this with warm rice. The cost of this rice is hard to figure out even for me and isn’t important since this meal is still very cheap for 4-6 people to eat.

Giniling na Baka at Soy Beans (Beef Picadillo with Soy Beans)

1-1.5 lbs of ground beef

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp. of olive oil (substitute canola or vegetable oil)

1 large onion, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1 large potato, cubed in small pieces

2-3 tbsp. of soy sauce

1/3 cup of water

½ cup of soy beans (edamame)

Salt, black pepper, and garlic powder to taste.

Cook ground beef in skillet and season lightly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Drain fat and set meat aside.

In a pan over medium heat, sauté garlic in oil until lightly browned. Add onion and stir until onion is tender. Add tomato and cook until soft. Add meat, potato, soy sauce, water, and soy beans. Holding the salt, black pepper, and garlic powder containers, sprinkle the mixture twice with each of the seasonings. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until meat and potatoes are tender. Eat a potato cube to check tenderness and if you deem eat edible, then it’s ready. However, since each of us has different taste buds, taste your dish and correct as necessary with salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic powder if the mixture lacks taste and if it has too much taste, then add small amount of water to the dish.

Serves 4-6

Masarap!

Filipino words for the day:
*Masarap = Tasty!
*Taho = soy bean curd dessert with caramel sauce and tapioca balls. I used to eat this everyday for breakfast in the Philippines. I'd impatiently wait for the Taho Man to come to my house and he always gave me a little more than the other kids because my Tito Boyet was friends with him ;). Oh I miss those days and I wish the US had something similar to this.

In Your Cupboard Before You Start

Before joining me in my cooking adventure into Filipino cuisine, you need to stock up your cupboard with the following:


Rice (~$20 for 25 lbs), soy sauce ($3 for regular size bottle), salt and pepper ($1 each), bay leaves ($1 per container), garlic powder ($1), olive oil ($5-$10) or vegetable/canola oil (~$5).

Obviously, Filipinos didn’t traditionally cook with olive oil and this oil is more expensive but since this oil is better for your system than the other cooking oils, I believe that the cost is well worth it. You can’t always be cheap when it comes to food because your health in the long run is more important.

Sorry this post was later but I just thought about it.

Yo Honey, Whaz fo Dinna?

My boyfriend loves to joke around with me and will ask in what I call his "ebonics" language, "Yo yo yo! Whaz fo dinna babe?" For tonight, we're having Giniling na Baka or Beef Picadillo. Picadillo is from the Spanish word picar, which means to mince or to chop. Thus, you can deduce that I will be using ground beef. I didn't have to look that up since I took Spanish in high school and I am currently learning Spanish again. I'm on the intermediate level now, yay!

Because he's leaving again for his training in "the middle of nowhere USA," I as a good girlfriend, offered to cook him dinner the night before leaving. I asked him to go through the cookbook that I am using for this project and pick a recipe. I showed him the the page with all the suggested dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but being a man, lazy and impatient, he took the book from me, opened a couple of random pages, and said, "This one. Okay, what else?" and moved on with the conversation. So I guess we're having beef picadillo which I have made a few times before. I think I will be more creative with this dish since it is a boring dish to me. I expressed my thoughts to the boyfriend but he doesn't care. He said he wants potatoes and beef. Such a typical man to want potatoes and beef but what the hey, I love the guy so I'll make it.

My goal is to spend $10 or less for a dinner for moi, the bf, and the two sisters. Being Filipino, I already have rice and a few other spices in my cupboard so that cuts down on the bill for tonight but this dish is still cheap even if you have to buy the rice and spices. 25 lbs of rice at a local Asian grocery store costs less than $20. Each person eats 1 cup of rice so 25 lbs of rice will last you a very long time. Try a Vietnamese grocery store instead of Japanese store because they offer better value for Asian ingredients. As for the spices, they are very cheap too.

So to the boyfriend out there, I just want to say, "Yo babe! Dinna is beef and potatoes tonight so ya betta eat it. Juz lettin ya kno"

A Tribute To Maria

Do you have any regrets in life?

I do. One.

I regret never taking the time to say I love you to my uncle, Tito Boyet, who was like a father to me, before he passed away when I was 12 years old.

Since then, I swore to myself that I will seize the opportunity to utter the significant words to my loved ones. Not used to affection growing up, it took me many years to articulate those words. Finally, sometime toward the end of high school when I felt more comfortable in my skin and environment, I said to an aging, wrinkled, and short woman, “I love you Lola.” Lola means grandma in Tagalog, which is one of the many languages of the Philippines. I was never able to say those words until then, even to my own mother, father, or siblings. But I said them to Lola that momentous day.

Lola’s real name is Maria and I am her namesake. She is 90 years old and enjoys saying exactly what she thinks. For example, everyone in the family was having a wonderful time in the woods during our camping trip and I asked her whether she was having a good time. She looked at me straight in the eye and with a huff, she said, “No. All the trees look the same to me.” I find her hilarious even when she is reprimanding me or her other “wild” grandchildren. Despite moving slower than a few years ago, she still cooks delicious Filipino dishes, albeit not being allowed by her kids to cook in the kitchen for fear that she will hurt herself and/or burn the house down. Being 90 and having lived through revolutions and wars, she has no qualms with disobeying the 8 living children she churned out and still cooks for us. My favorite Filipino dishes are made by her and my goal is to learn the dishes in order to bond with her and to learn to cook in general. According to the culture I was born in, I am a woman of marrying age so I should know how to run a happy and healthy household by now. I say, “Whatever,” to this statement but I do love food and I am a willing student.

Thus, here I am at this point in my life, an unemployed woman “looking to hit many birds with one stone,” as the popular English idiom says. The “birds” are bonding with my aging grandma who may leave me any time because she refuses a kidney dialysis, learning to cook Filipino dishes that I love to eat, learning more about the culture I was born but didn’t grow up in, and learning in general, because I believe that life is a constant learning experience. So, the stone that I’m going to “throw” is to write this blog.

The objective of my blog is to cook Filipino dishes on a budget while bonding with Lola Maria and learning about my history. In order for my project to be credible, I will feed my concoctions to my two sisters who live with me, along with the other Marias in my life, my mother and grandmother, as well as my close friends. Throughout the blog, Filipinos and others alike will have the chance to eat my dishes and they in turn, to thank me for the free meal, must provide me with their thoughts about my creations.

In addition to photos, instructions, reactions, and my insights on the cooking experience, each blog entry will show a total of how much was spent in making the food. Thus, you will know approximately how much you will be spending if you attempt my experiences. All dishes will be on a budget, so have no fear! In this economy, you don’t have to be hungry to eat well and deliciously! All of this will be courtesy of Marie, moi, Maria, my grandma, and a Filipino cookbook lent to me by my boyfriend's mother.

Maybe along the way, I’ll learn more about myself, my family, and my two cultures that I am balancing. Most importantly, I will never the lose the opportunity to express my love for the woman who inspires me, who loves me, who cooks for me, who occasionally reprimands me for acting un-Filipina, and who is one of the best women and mothers of the world. I love you, Lola Maria.

**Please feel free, if you have any experience in teaching English, to provide constructive criticism and correction of my entry. I am a wannabe writer and my goal is to have a book someday. My favorite subject before I started my education in accountancy and business was English. Being in business nearly stamped out my creative side and being unemployed allows me to open the missing side.