Adobo de Campesino

Yummy Magazine's September 2010 issue had six adobo recipes, and I have cooked and shared two - Adobo sa Buko and Adobo sa Dilaw. The three other recipes were too difficult for me to do, so I am now about to share the last of the adobo recipes from the magazine:




Adobo de Campesino
{serves 4}

Ingredients:

• 8 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons annatto oil
• 700 grams pork belly (liempo) or leg (pigue), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (patis)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup yard-long beans (sitaw), sliced into 1-inch lengths

How to Cook:

• Saute garlic in annatto oil. Add pork and stir-fry until brown.
• Add vinegar and simmer; don't stir until vinegar boils and releases its acidic odor. Add pepper, fish sauce, and salt and continue simmering over low heat until pork is tender.
• Before serving, ladle out the pork into a serving dish. Toss beans in the pan and cook until tender. Add beans to the pork and serve together on a platter.

Points to Consider:

• To make annatto oil, heat oil in a pan and add annatto seeds (1:1 ratio). Simmer for a few minutes until oil is reddish-orange in color. Strain and discard the seeds.
• According to the magazine, you can also use wing beans (singarilyas).

Following the look of the dish in the magazine, I simmered the dish long enough for it to be oily-saucy. Of course, as a person who is trying to lose weight, I spooned out much of the oil, so I could enjoy the sauce more. I really loved this adobo - especially having the taste of sitaw and pork together. I have always been a big fan of the sitaw, and I think this is the new take to the adobo that I would cook every now and then.

For someone who is very accustomed to eating adobo with soysauce, trying the three adobo dishes from the magazine was a great change. Testing recipes and savoring the yummy goodness of my own cooking will always be a great feeling, and I am now into testing new recipes.

*** Jenn ***