Thursday, October 14, 2010

chickpea adobo


as i was sitting in my living room this evening trying to figure out what to cook for dinner, i knew i wanted filipino food, but what?????  although adobo is one of the easiest filipino dishes to cook, i haven't attempted to cook a vegan filipino adobo dish yet just because i wanted to stray away from using "fake chicken" or tofu.  i wanted to create something different.  so, as i was thinking about what to cook for dinner today, i was like "hey! why don't i use chickpeas!" i thought of one of my favorite indian dishes, chana masala.  if chickpeas work for that dish, i'm sure they'll work for adobo!!!!

adobo is a popular filipino dish, usually made with chicken and/or pork that is cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, bay leafs, garlic and at times browned in oil (just the way i like it).

when the spanish colonized the philippines in the 1500's, "they encountered an indigenous cooking process which involved stewing with vinegar, which they then referred to as adobo, which is the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade" (wikipedia).  rather than the spanish having an influence on this dish, we had an influence on them.

i really just put this dish together on a whim using my families basic adobo recipe.  rather than using chicken or pork, i used a can of chickpeas.  i also added potatoes to get a startchy consistency.  when most of the liquid evaporated, i added some canola oil and browned it a bit.  sorry, i didn't measure the ingredients and will update this post with the exact measurements of the ingredients.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

tinola


tinola is a soup-based dish in the philippines.  it is made with chicken, chayote, garlic and ginger.  i usually eat this dish when i'm sick or when it's a cold rainy day.  this is definitely a filipino comfort food.