17 June 2011

Chicken Ala Jao (or Chicken Adobo in liver sauce) from Adora's Box

This one very nearly didn't get made at all!

We had come back from an unexpected trip to Bournemouth and I was feeling a bit tender in the joints.  Which is funny, considering all I had to do was drive there and sit in the car, listening to The Archers on Radio 4, whilst Hubby ran around doing the errands.  For some reason, however, (probably the rain, as my knee problem is arthritic) my joints were begging for mercy by the time we got home.

Still, after a bit of a lie down and a cup of lemon tea (gorgeous stuff, that.  Would restore life into the lifeless), I had a review of the recipe and decided that if Hubby didn't mind doing the cutting and a-chopping of an onion, I wouldn't have to move around the kitchen much whilst doing the rest and so it was do-able.

Which I'm jolly glad about - now.  You see, this recipe was surprising, intense and very, very nice.  It's a definite do-again!

Looking at my version of it versus the photographs on the Adora's Box blogsite, I reckon I did a fairly good job with it.

It didn't take me anything like as long as is stated in the original recipe (which is available here on Adora's Box) which I can put down to the fact that I used breast of chicken instead of thighs, which take far longer to cook.

I will also admit to the fact that I didn't leave the chicken marinating for anything like as long as I should have, but we'd have wound up having dinner at bedtime if I'd procrastinated any longer!

As it was, the recipe is extremely easy to carry out and I even managed to cook rice and stir-fried veggies at the same time.  All without getting terribly stressed - which can occur when there's a lot of things happening on the stovetop all at once!

The seemingly eclectic mix of ingredients that form the marinade amalgamate into an eyebrow raisingly tasty sauce.  Additionally, the liver pate doesn't remain as a separate flavour, but instead forms a thickener that delivers an interesting amount of Umami to the overall flavour.  I have one word of warning though, which is to not panic when you realise just how intensely sweet the whole recipe has become.  I was so glad that I'd used white wine vinegar instead of the balsamic that had been my first choice.  (The type of vinegar isn't given, on the recipe, you see).  I reckon that balsamic would have tipped it over the edge into unbearably sweet.  However, with the plain white Basmati rice and the plain stir fried veggies (which I did with a little olive oil - and nothing else) they went perfectly with the intense, sweet sauce of the chicken and balanced the whole dish.  Don't be tempted to put anything even remotely sweet with it as a side dish!

I thought we'd like this one, as I'd made Chicken Adobo successfully in the past.  I just wasn't entirely confident about the liver pate's part in the deal!

Chicken Ala Jao (or Chicken Adobo in liver sauce) recipe is available here.

10 comments:

  1. My iPhone has gone a bit mad and posted those all unfinished. What I meant to say was that this recipe sounds intriguing. Might have to check out that blog.
    Sx

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  2. I deleted the extra ones, so don't worry! LOL

    I thoroughly recommend it, Seren. It's not the usual combination of ingredients by any means - and when you taste it as it is coming together it does make your hair stand on end as to how sweet it is (don't for goodness sake, use Balsamic vinegar! lol). However, with the combination of the plain rice and plain stir fried veggies, it really is something special.

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  3. This looks great and I'd like to have a go at making this but am not sure from the other recipe how much liver pate to use? Would be grateful if you could let me know how much you used as I imagine too much/little could really spoil it. Many thanks!

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    1. Well, looking again at the recipe on Adora's Box, it says to use a quarter of a cup of liver pate. A quarter of a cup equates to about two heaped tablespoonfuls. Hope that helps!

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  4. Thank you very much - that's tomorrow's dinner sorted now!

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    1. Do come back and let me know how you get on with it - even if the results aren't good! It's always interesting to hear how someone else found something that I really like!

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  5. Delicious! Lovely rich flavours, had it with plain white rice and sugar snaps which went perfectly. I used rice vinegar which seemed to work well. I have to ask though - what kind of pâté did you use? I planned to use chicken liver but it was sold out so used Brussels! It seemed very odd putting it in the sauce and it did smell slightly strange to begin with but the end result was lovely. Thanks for a lovely recipe, it will become a regular.

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    1. Oh that's great! :) Hmmn, thinking back, I'm sure it was a smooth pork liver pate - probably a Brussels the same as you used. I agree, it is odd putting it into the sauce, but it very quickly makes sense, doesn't it!

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  6. Hi Jenny! Thank you for cooking my Mum's chicken ala Jao. My Mum did it low and slow with whole chickens but I'm glad to know that it also works on chicken breasts. It looks delicious!

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    1. We really liked it - and I've been tempted to make it again just recently, too. I'm so glad you liked my attempt at it! I'd hate to not have done it some justice, at least. :)

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