Boh Ho Chiak!

In Hokkien, "boh ho chiak" means "not nice to eat" (tak sedap). I was confronted with that statement at dinner time when my partner scrunched up his face after tasting the main dish I cooked. 

Not only that, he also said that the dish tasted "kwai kwai" (weird). So what was that offending dish? It was Pork Adobo. 

I saw Kimmy's Chicken Adobo the other day and I thought it looked very tasty. Given my partner's attitude towards chicken (even more so, now that the bird flu is back), I decided to make the oink oink version for him (sorry, no photos).

After marinating the meat for about 2 hours, I put the whole lot into the slow cooker and let it braise for a few hours. Once it was done, I tasted for seasoning and I thought the adobo sauce was awesome.

Yeah, right. Awesome to me, awful to him. But still, he ate his fair share and no, I was not hurt or offended. After all, we have different tastebuds.

Since I loved the adobo so much, I decided to cook up a batch using chicken (all for me obviously). I marinated the chicken pieces overnight and the next day I tossed  the marinated chicken, sauce and all, into a hot wok, stir fried and the let it braise away.

And yes, I thought the end result was just as awesome as the one I cooked the day before. It's amazing how soya sauce, apple cider vinegar, garlic, sugar, black pepper and bay leaves can produce such deliciousness. It was so much better than an earlier version I cooked. 

Chicken Adobo

Recipe source : Adapted from Cooking Pleasure

Ingredients :

- 800g chicken pieces

- 4 tbsp light soya sauce

- 1 tbsp thick soya sauce

- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

- 1.5 tbsp sugar

- 1 tsp black pepper

- 3 dried bay leaves

- 4 cloves garlic, crushed

To thicken gravy :

-  1 tsp tapioca starch + 3 tbsp water

Method :

1. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients overnight (or a few hours).

2. Heat oil in a wok and add marinated chicken and juices into the wok.

3. Stir fry over high heat and then let simmer covered until chicken is cooked.

4. Bring to a boil and thicken gravy with tapioca starch mixture.