My Expat Daddy's Sweet and Spicy Adobo

Yes, this is the hubby's recipe. See, I'm sure most people would agree with me that  when you say Adobo, be it pork, chicken, or vegetables, it is neither sweet nor spicy! So I guess upon seeing the title of this post you would say whaaaaattttttt????!!!!! It is a total disrespect to Pinoy's ultimate comfort food. But before any violent reactions from our forefathers who had saved their own family secret adobo recipe, I would just like to say that somehow, hubby's sweet and spicy adobo actually worked! Beneath that sweet and spicy touch lies a true blue adobo and this is just a twist from the ordinary recipe which you might like to try at one point.

I am not really an adobo fan. Having grown up with throw-everything-in-the-pan adobo, which my father taught me, I guess I have just outgrown my taste for adobo. So in our household, when you see an adobo dish you could be 100% sure that it wasn't me who cooked it. As for me, I would spend even an hour thinking of any other way to cook meat instead of adobo. But the same is not true for my husband. Any chance he could get, specially when there's pork in the house, he'll just whip it into his version of adobo, maybe because given a chance he couldn't expect me to prepare adobo for him. I had just grown tired of the dish personally! When we were growing up in Batangas, both our parents are abroad and it was just me, my sister and brother in the house and most of the time, coming home tired from school and still needing to cook. What we'll just do is make adobo, so you would understand my sentiments, I'm sure! Of course it isn't that I don't eat Adobo at all, I still do --- when I don't have a choice :)
So this time, when the hubby asked for an adobo meal, I just shrugged... you want it, you cook it! :)
Ingredients:
1/2 kg pork, adobo cut
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced
2 tbs cooking oil
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs cane vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried red chili flakes
3 pcs whole red chili
1 bay leaf
Method:
In a hot pan, pour in oil and cook until smoking hot. Add garlic, saute for 2 minutes then add the onions. Saute until onion is translucent.
Add in the pork and cover for about five minutes. You will find that juices start to be extracted from the meat. When these juice starts to dry up, add the soy sauce and stir fry for about 2 minutes. 
Add the vinegar and cover. Do not stir. Adjust the heat to very low and let simmer for about 5-8 minutes.
After such time, the pork would be almost cooked. Add the chili flakes, black pepper, sugar and bay leaf. Stir to  distribute flavors evenly. Drop in hte whole red chilis and cover. (You may add water if desired for more sauce, in this case you may need to adjust taste with salt and pepper)
After two minutes, turn off heat. Let it rest for another couple of minutes before removing cover and serving. With this, the red chilis would be cooked from the heat inside the pan. 
Transfer in serving bowl and serve with hot rice. Garlic Fried Rice is also recommended! Enjoy!