I love my adobo “dry” or as they call it “adobong tuyo” ~ with the right saltiness and tang. I was introduced to “Adobo with Gochujang” when a dear friend cooked it for her guests on her birthday party last January. It was the first time I ever tried her cooking ~ after a decade of being friends! And the dish was delightful ~ so I told myself to make it at home.
I have tried “adobo with gochujang” several times since January. I experimented with the ways of cooking it ~ stove top and slow cooker. Once when my in-laws were here, I cooked adobo with gochujang in my slow cooker. My mother-in-law asked me for the recipe and I even gave her some bay leaves since she didn’t know about them before.
The ingredients are basic adobo ~ soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, whole pepper, bay leaves and with only the addition of “gochujang” or red pepper paste. The gochujang that I use is made by mother-in-law with the “gochu” or red pepper sourced from Goesan, where it is famous in Korea. The soy sauce is the ordinary “jin kanjang” or dark soy sauce, vinegar is “hyunmi sikcho” or “brown rice vinegar”. Everything is sourced in Korea, including the bay leaves. When I first made it, I followed the ingredients from “Taste with the Eyes“. The second time I made it, I tweaked the ingredients a little bit and this was the one that my MIL liked ~
Gochujang is the Korean red pepper paste. There are two kinds ~ basic and vinegared. The vinegared one is called “cho gochujang” ~ vinegar in Korean is “sikcho”. Just get the basic gochujang from your supermarket ~ or from your mother-in-law!
First version of “Adobo with Gochujang”
Ingredients for 750 gm to 1 kl cut chicken from the supermarket ~
1/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons gochujang
5-6 pcs crushed garlic cloves
5-6 pcs bay leaves
Procedure
Mix all the ingredients in a pot. Add the chicken, boil. Cover and simmer in very low heat for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces and cook again for 30 minutes or until almost dry. Serve with toasted sesame seeds on top. Easy!
And here’s the finished product:
Second Version
This is what I served my mother-in-law and she liked it so much she asked for the recipe.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons ì´ìœ or ì—°ë‘ (yeondu)
5 crushed garlic cloves
5 bay leaves
whole peppercorn
Procedure:
Mix all the sauce ingredients in a slow cooker. Add the chicken and mix. Cover and set to low for 3 hours. Serve hot with sesame seeds on top.
See ì´ìœ on the photo between the vinegar and soy sauce. It can be substituted with the more popular ì—°ë‘ (yeondu). Both are cooking essence. When I made the “adobo” in the slow cooker, it was really tender with the meat almost falling off the bone. It wasn’t as dry but very tasty. It was a lot better than when I cooked it on the stove top.
You could see on the photo above how the meat almost fall off the bone. Of course, adobo is best served with rice. My mother-in-law liked it so much she wondered how I could make something with very few ingredients. Just a tinge of spiciness with a lot of tang!