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Monday, October 20, 2008

AdoboSiLog

One of the all time favorites in the Filipino household would be the "silog" combinations : 'Si' - from "sinangag", meaning fried rice, and 'log' (pronounced 'lohg'), from itlog, or egg. So, -silog is suffixed to a name for a meal with fried rice and fried egg served usually with a cooked meat. The simplicity of this dish comes from the idea that everything is just fried and plated together.

The typical version is with tapa, a version of cured beef jerky. The name for this, is hence tap-si-log. The fried rice component is usually garlic fried rice, and the egg can be scrambled, sunny side up, or overeasy. There is an endless variation considering in a Filipino household, as the -silog can practically be served with anything, even on its own! Wikipedia lists some of the usual combinations, like :

Daingsilog - Daing (dried salted fish), fried rice and fried egg
Bacsilog - bacon, fried rice and fried egg
Bangsilog - bangus (milkfish), fried rice and fried egg
Bisteksilog - beef steak, fried rice and fried egg
Dangsilog - danggit (a type of dried salted fish) , fried rice and fried egg
Chosilog - chorizo, fried rice and fried egg
Chicksilog - chicken, fried rice and fried egg
Cornsilog - corned beef, fried rice and fried egg
Hotsilog - hotdog, fried rice and fried egg
Longsilog - longganisa, fried rice and fried egg
Litsilog - lechon (Lit is from the tagalog form litson, phonetically the same), fried rice and fried egg
Masilog - Ma Ling (a brand Chinese luncheon meat), fried rice and fried egg
SPAMsilog - SPAM (a brand of luncheon meat), fried rice and fried egg
Tosilog - tocino, fried rice and fried egg

This post though, is about Adsilog, or Adobosilog, but served in a slightly different fashion.

The Filipino Adobo is a stew of either chicken or pork in a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar (usually white vinegar), spiced with garlic, onion, cracked ground pepper and bay leaf. Different households have different approaches to adobo - some brown the meat in the garlic and onions before adding the liquids and the rest of the ingredients, some just put everything in a pot and let it simmer until the meat cooks, some just sit down, and let other people do the cooking! The wonderful combination of the spices lend it a distinct delicious smell, and one taste does not overpower the other - it is a very simple yet amazing dish, even considered as the 'national food'.

The 'fried rice' component for this particular meal is made with boiled basmati, fried with a similar 'adobo' base (i.e. garlic, onions, equal proportions of soy sauce and vinegar, sauteed together initially for a couple of minutes, before tossing in the rice), but not too much of it - just enough to give the rice a bit of color and complement the pork adobo flavor. The egg was poached not fried.


tonight's adobosilog... and the creamy yolk from the poached egg tainting the fried rice
the green leaves where the meat and egg are sitting are baby cos lettuce,
just for a little bit of crunch


One of the many ways to make an adobo (call this Adobo 101 if you like) :
500g pork, cut into matchbox sized pcs (or chicken)
1/4 cup of dark soy sauce
1/4 cup of vinegar
6 cloves garlic, crushed or minced (truth is, the more, the merrier, so throw in an entire head if you want)
1 medium onion, minced (make it large if using a whole head of garlic)
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon oil (cooking oil, olive oil is good)
ground pepper, crushed

Saute garlic and onions in oil until onions are translucent, add pork and fry until slightly browned, add soy sauce, vinegar and bay leaves (add more soy sauce and vinegar depending on how much 'sauce' is preferred, just ensure that equal proportions are used) and let simmer on medium fire until the wonderful smell blankets the whole house, the liquid is slightly reduced and the meat is cooked (around 30 minutes or so) . Season with ground cracked pepper, and simply serve with white rice (or with silog, if preferred!)



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