#19_Fake Chicken Adobo

Mamasita's Oyster Sauce and Yoshida's Sauce

I don't want to sound like I'm endorsing these brands. I'm not! Actually,I'm not into brands. Often times I buy the generic stuffs. But let me share my little discoveries with you. I've tried different brands of oyster sauce and found the Mamasitas brand to be the best, so far. The difference is that Mamasitas uses natural or real oysters, other brands say on their labels: flavored oyster sauce. But beware though, it has 82% sodium! that's awfully high!

Yoshida sauce has a sweet and savory taste with garlic and some spices not revealed on the label, of course, and has lower sodium content than the oyster sauce. I only find them at Costco. Again, I'm not trying to endorse Costco, (I'm not getting paid by these guys), but that's the only place I know who sells them aside from Sam's club.

The combination of these two sauces makes a lot of difference in this recipe. I've tried using one without the other and the result wasn't satisfactory for me. I guess in areas where the Yoshida is not available you can just use oyster sauce by itself. But because of the salt content you have to use just a little, about 3 tablespoons, and more liquid (soda), therefore, the color of the sauce will be a little pale. Oyster sauce is very excellent in stir fry dishes too.

Rotisserie Chicken from Costco

In my opinion, Costco has the best rotisserie chicken, unlike others, Costco's have mild seasonings which when use to make this recipe, blends really well with the sauces. Again, I've tried other chicken of the kind from other stores but they have too much dry rubs.

The Fake Chicken Adobo

I know you're wondering, is there such a thing?

When my 3 year old nephew first arrived here in the US, he was having a hard time with the food. I took him to McDonalds and he said "ba-aw, sabaw!" Ba-aw is Pangasinan for kanin (cooked white rice) and sabaw is sauce or gravy. He wanted to eat only rice and sauce! I asked his mother what kind of sauce? She explained to me that whenever they went to "MacDo" all he ate was rice with the adobo sauce. I didn't even know that McDonalds in the Philippines serves adobo and rice.

One time they came over, he asked me if I had some adobo sauce. I didn't want to go to the store to buy the chicken because the weather was bad. I scrounged around the freezer and all I found was some rotisserie chicken. I thawed out the chicken in the microwave and cooked it with some yoshida sauce, combined with some oyster sauce. He ate it with gusto! His mom said that I faked him out.

This recipe beats Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meal because you'll have adobo on your table for less than 25 minutes. No kidding! That's because the chicken is fully cooked and if cooked longer than needed they'll fall apart.

Okay, are you ready?

CHICKEN ADOBO:

1 (3 lb.) rotisserie chicken, cut up to serving pieces

1 medium onion, sliced

4 TB canola oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup Yoshida sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar

3 TB oyster sauce

freshly cracked peppercorns

1 cup 7-up or sprite, not diet

Procedure:

1. In a large saute pan, heat oil and brown the garlic. Add the sliced onions. Saute until onions are limp and translucent.

2. Add in the cut up chicken pieces and continue to saute gently for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the sauces, the vinegar and the peppercorns. Cover and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes

4. Pour in the soda and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

5. Adjust seasonings to your liking, if too salty add a little more soda and simmer for another 5 minutes, otherwise, its done!

6. This is optional: If you prefer thicker sauce, take out the chicken at this point and cook down the sauce until your desired consistency

ENJOY!!

For Lemongrass Pork Adobo recipe, click here.