The Philippines

Menu: Adobo chicken, sinangag, & jelly coffee | Recipe Source: butterbeready.com and sweetsimplevegan.com

I love a recipe that repurposes marinade instead of having you discard it, and in adobo chicken, the marinade ends up becoming a sauce that’s the heart and soul of the dish. Tangy, malty, and punctuated by sharp notes of citrus, it’s used to slowly simmer the chicken until it’s cooked to tender perfection. The garlic fried rice was simple but fragrant and delightfully crunchy, and it was a perfect vessel for soaking up the adobo sauce.

The iced coffee with coffee jelly was cold, creamy, and refreshing. Recipes abound for making the jelly squares from scratch, but when I saw them pre-made on the shelf at HMart, I couldn’t resist the shortcut. This was also a super easy one to make dairy free, which always wins bonus points with me.

Ready to cook?

Adobo Chicken (link): I followed the adobo marinade recipe exactly aside from adding some chopped cilantro and swapping 1/2 the black peppercorns for sichuan peppercorns. I grilled the chicken pieces at 500 instead of browning them on the stove, and I ended up only needing 1/4 of the simmering time as a result.

Sinangag (link): I made the rice with low-sodium chicken broth instead of water but otherwise followed this recipe exactly.

Jelly Coffee: I bought pre-made coffee jelly from H-Mart and brewed a pot of regular strength Cafe du Monde coffee. I added dairy-free condensed milk to my glass and stirred in the coffee jelly cubes (plus syrup from the jar), then added 1/2 cup oat milk, stirred until well combined, and then added ice. I poured black coffee over the milk mixture, added my straw, and then garnished with another small scoop of coffee jelly.