Tablea Chicken and Pork Adobo

This deep, dark adobo's secret ingredient? Chocolate.
Difficulty
Easy
Servings
4 servings
Wait Time
1 Hr 30 Mins
Active Time
10 Mins

Chocolate gets pigeonholed as a dessert-only ingredient, but using it for savory dishes can yield unexpectedly delicious results. Here, local tablea adds complexity to garlicky adobo—a deep, semi-sweet, semi-bitter richness that only dark chocolate can provide.

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What is Adobo?
Adobo refers to the Filipino dish and cooking technique where ingredients are braised in vinegar with salt (usually soy sauce), garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Almost anything can be adobo: meat, fish, seafood, vegetables. You’ll find endless variations on adobo across the Philippines, each with their own unique flavors, ingredients, spices, and textures.

Add maybe a chilli or two for heat, or leave this adobo alone to develop into a dark stew. This one's far from your lola‘s good old-fashioned take.

  • 500g chicken quarters, cut in half
  • 500g pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
  • ¾ cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup soy sauce
  • 2 heads garlic, cut horizontally
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp whole peppercorns
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 unsweetened tablea
1

Cook adobo: Combine all ingredients in a pot over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and allow the stew to simmer until the meat is tender, about 1 ½ hours. Remove the chicken and pork from the sauce and set aside.

2

Add tablea: Add the tablea into the sauce. Stir constantly until the chocolate has dissolved completely. Return the chicken and pork into the sauce. Stir and cook for an additional five minutes until sauce has thickened and coated the meat. Serve with steamed rice.

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