Since I am trying to reduce my caloric intake, I have to satisfy my cravings by simply taking photographs of Mrs. Marketman and The Kid’s wonderful meals… This was their dinner last night and I figured I could interrupt my Palawan posts with this absolute family favorite. Take leftover adobo (chicken & pork) from an intentionally large batch of adobo from an earlier meal and shred it by hand, trying to make more less similarly sized pieces. Next, take the oil and juices from the sauce and heat it up in a pan and fry the flakes until a classic crispy/chewy consistency, best described by yet another difficult to translate term – makunat! How you eat this is up to you. Some mix it in with rice and monggo and some more reduced adobo sauce and eat it all together. Others add chilli vinegar and eat it like a viand (ulam). Some folks sandwich it in a pan de sal and eat it as a snack. Still others add some ketchup to moisten it a bit….
You can serve it with plain rice or at breakfast over garlic rice with a fried egg… 
Hmmm, the more I think about this, look at the photos and write about it, the more I WANT TO EAT A CUP FULL of the stuff! Torture. This is a relatively labor intensive way to eat the leftover adobo but the texture and flavor is utterly worth it. It’s a bit like a “poor man’s confit” of duck legs… but since I grew up loving that soy and vinegar and spice mixture that is quintessentially pinoy adobo, I cannot have a month or two go by without enjoying this delicious dish. Wherever you might be this Holy Week, if you have leftover adodo…shred it and fry it. And eat some extra for me!
21 Responses
ADOBO! How do I eat thee? Let me count the ways… :) I can imagine the aroma of those adobo flakes MM!
When there’s no leftover adobo, corned beef flakes give me the same high. Just fry the corned beef (Argentina Gold) and let its juices dry up to a tostado crisp. The end result is a delicious mound of crispy/chewy shreds so perfect with sinangag!
Oh my. My favorite. Thanks for sharing this. I am still looking for that Adobe recipe (cebuano style) where soy sauce is not added. I remember my mom used to make bottles of this adobo. During my UP dorm days, we didn’t have refrigerators so this adobo had a very good shelf life.
Turning regular adobo (which already has a long shelf life) into flakes makes it last forever. I love it either with egg and rice for breakfast, or with pan de sal and kesong puti.
MM, what a coincidence… Just finished shredding adobo tonight, to be fried to a makunat crisp for dinner tomorrow! Now you have tempted me to fry some up for a midnight snack.
My family calls this dish “Ropa Vieja” and growing up I used to always ask my mom for it. Now, even my Dutch wife really likes it and prepares it herself for our young boys. I guess we’re having this dish again soon!
MM, we usually have this for breakfast with sunny side up eggs!
Sarap!
i always like the leftover adobo, masarap na palaman sa tinapay.
I just added the leftover “hinimay na adobo” to brown rice with scrambled eggs, onions, peas and baby corn, just an hour ago for our dinner.
We do this with left over mechado too. Fried makunat or crispy it’s really good! Kakagutom!
This is so so good! I turn the flakes and any leftover sauce into fried rice :)
The ever reliable delicious adobo. Great for beach outings. Adobo in the evening…adobo flakes in fried rice the following morning!
Hi MM,
I just wanna share. There’s a new stall in megamall (near toy kindom) selling caramel apples. looks good. They’re not using granny smith apples though. :P
Noemi, do you mean the kind cooked with patis and suka only? I can share my “method” with you if you like (since I don’t have an actual recipe).
Favorite, favorite, favorite! Nakakagutom!
Obviously, this dish is a universal favorite. Noemi, many folks cook adobo only with vinegar, garlic water and spices. It comes out rather pale but yummy. Then if you want a twist, brush it with some soy sauce and re-fry it then…yum. Marky, I know the apples, my daughter and I bought some last week at the Glorietta branch and I have photos but no post yet… tercer, in our home, the ropa vieja is shredded beef from stewed beef dishes…then tomato sauce is added…super yummy as well!
YUM! I wanted to lick my screen! This post reminded me of a dish I would order at the Aloha Kitchen in Las Vegas, called Adobo fried rice omelet. The stuffing uses shredded pork(maybe chicken too?)adobo and rice fried in it’s sabaw/oil. Then a very thin egg omelet envelopes the stuff and it’s amazingly yummy! esp. at 2am! It’s huge and a meal in itself! I’ve tried making it at home, guessing that I just fry cold rice in some of the manteca of the adobo, drizzle enough of the sabaw to moisten and add the adobo flavor, then add the shredded meat. Then make an omelet! Great, now I’m craving! =)
I so want to have adobo right now! I’ve never had adobo flakes before as there aren’t any adobo left after a meal!
looks yummy! i should try making this one of these days. ;)
nakakagutom naman….hmmm maluto nga yan one of these days.. ehehehe
sarap! i like it as ulam or even as filling sa sandwich! :D
Hi Market Manila,
About adobo flakes. I’d like to share my recent experience in cooking adobo. I made a mistake in cooking adobo, which lead to a discovery on how to make thread like adobo flakes.
Mechanics:
1. Combine adobo ingredients in a pressure cooker.
2. Leave it, or in my case forget it.
3. Two hours, release the steam, voila! a thread like shreds of pork.
4. Now transfer everything on a non stick kawale and just continuously stir it until the rest of the sabaw dries up leaving just the oil from the pork.
5. Continue on stirring the adobo until the threads starts to brown.
i hope you try it. it was really good and the process shortens the prep time twice coz you no longer need to shred the pork with your hands.
thanks,
tins