We served this dish to friends for dinner and everyone– INCLUDING all of the KIDS- enjoyed it. 🙂 The adobo marinade is salty from the soy sauce and fish sauce; it’s tangy from the apple cider vinegar. It also has a little sweetness and a little spiciness. The original recipe called for two 3 1/2-pound chickens, cut into pieces. I substituted 20 boneless, skinless chicken thighs- so much easier. I marinaded the chicken for 24 hours. This was my first experience with star anise– it’s so pretty! This dish was adapted from a Food and Wine “staff-favorite” recipe.
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce (I used low sodium)
- 1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
- 10 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 5 whole star anise pods
- 5 bay leaves
- 20 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- Canola oil, for brushing
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- In a large, sturdy resealable plastic bag, combine all of the ingredients except the oil, salt and pepper. Shake to evenly distribute the chicken and adobo marinade; seal the bag, pressing out the air. Refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade. Pat the chicken dry and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, light a grill. Brush the chicken with oil and season with salt and black pepper. Grill over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and an instant-read thermometer registers 165°. Transfer the chicken to a platter and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
thebrookcook 
We were the lucky guests for this tasty dish. I told the Brook Cook not to tell my finicky children that it was “Filipino Adobo Chicken”, but to call it grilled chicken and they loved it! And since I have made fun of her relentlessly that she notes that she “served it with a salad” she refrained this time, but that is MY salad bowl in the picture!!!
It is a beautiful salad bowl- it deserved to be part of this post! 🙂 The salad was great too.