Adobong Kangkong
Adobo is a popular dish in the Philippines. It is so popular that even if some of us may have relocated abroad, knowing how to cook this dish (Mom’s version) is a sure fire way to cure homesickness. Similar to any food we grew up with, the only authentic version of a certain dish would be the version that our Moms and Grandmothers cook it for us. And more likely than not, it is ALWAYS the best version there in on the planet!
Apart from various cooking styles and techniques, adobo can be cooked using various options, too. There is a pork-based and chicken-based adobo. I typically cook the meat versions since my husband is a carnivore (LOL) but then, there are times I miss the vegetable-based version, too.
From what I grew up with, there are two vegetables that can be used for this dish. A leafy version using water spinach (known locally as kangkong) or snake beans (known locally as sitaw). For this recipe, I used water spinach as there were no snake beans available in the Asian market at the time I was doing the groceries.
Recipe To Cook Water Spinach Adobo:
250g water spinach, cut in about 1-inch length
100g meat (for this, I used hot pot cut beef pieces since that’s what I have) *optional
1 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
Place the saucepan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot enough, reduce heat to medium-low. Add the garlic and toss around the pan until it starts to turn golden brown.
When the garlic becomes golden brown, add the chopped onions. Toss in the pan and cook until translucent.
Increase the heat to medium-high again. Add the tomatoes and cook until it becomes soft and mushy.
Once it becomes mushy, add the meat (if using). Move around the pan until all the pieces are cooked through.
Once the pieces of meat are cooked through, add the soy sauce and vinegar. Cover the saucepan and let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure the heat is high enough so that the sauce will continuously simmer. Don’t remove the lid for the first 15 minutes to make sure the vinegar and soy sauce becomes well incorporated.
After 15 minutes, add the water and bring to a boil. When the sauce starts boiling, add the water spinach.
Cover the saucepan again and when the sauce starts to boil, you may remove from heat. The residual heat coming from the pan would be enough to cook through the water spinach so it will not turn too soft.
Note: Personally, I’d cook the adobo a day before actually eating it. Doing so makes the sauce a lot tastier (in my opinion) as the vinegar sinks in more. Feel free to use any type of meat pieces to cook with the dish. Sometimes, I’d usually use pork mince for this. Lovely to eat with steaming white rice!
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I did not become familiar with adobo until I moved to Texas. It's an ingredient in Mexican recipes. I see it's used in the Philippines as well. Adobo or not, I love most recipes with spinach. This one sounds delish! :)
Thanks for the comment! Actually, adobo is a type of dish - not really an ingredient. Basically, when we say that the dish is adobo, it means that it is cooked in soy sauce and vinegar :) I have heard that there is also a Mexican "adobo" - I wouldn't be surprised as our cuisine is very much derived from different cultures, but haven't tried it (or seen it) yet.
We have lots of things in the country The Philippines, that are cooked like the adobo. Vegetables are so abundantly growing everywhere in the country. We have a specified several meters lot in the school planted with vegetables of different names. Eggplants for examples are good to be cooked in adobo style. The okra is also best for adobo. But Kangkong, water-grown or upland grown, is one of my favorites especially when it is cooked like the adobo.
Kangkong or kangkung, the so-called river spinach, is a good source of proteins, vitamins, minerals. It is grown in various Asian countries like Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, India, Bengal, and of course in our country, the Philippines.
Cooking Kangkong adobo is easy. You could make your own recipe. There are a lot of way of cooking this river spinach veggie. Let's have a good viand with this recipe. Happy eating.
Hmm, that's interesting. I haven't tried cooking the eggplant adobo-style so now I am intrigued to give it a try! The okra, I usually cook it steamed (or boiled) then dipped in shrimp paste and vinegar condiment for added flavour - yum! Those were the simple dishes I miss back home so there are times that I try to cook them here.