Adobo sa Dilaw

I love adobo, especially when it's done the way I like it (it is said that adobo has a thousand and one recipes, as each family would have its own "secret" recipe).  But recently I discovered a totally different way of adobo.  And it's one that we really, really like... The thing is, it does not have soy sauce as an ingredient!

The first time I made this dish was a couple of weeks ago, quite by chance.  I had recently discovered yellow ginger (or turmeric) and had bought quite a lot.  So I had been looking for recipes that used it as an ingredient.

There was none in my foreign cookbooks.  And while I found an article about a regional dish popular in the south, describing "original" adobo dish made with local vinegar, no soy sauce and turmeric, there wasn't a recipe attached to the article.  So I started experimenting.

The first time I made it, I winged it by following a basic adobo sans the soy sauce.  I discovered that the dish was a tad sour and rather bland without a salty component.  I fixed the sourness by adding soda and the blandness by adding a couple of large pinches of sea salt.

The result?  A really happy hubby!!! 

At that time I really did not intend to share the recipe.  But as luck would have it, BFF and I were talking the other day, and she mentioned that contrary to most of our countrymen who are lovers of adobo, she vehemently disliked adobo.  (She was referring to the dark colored, soy sauce rich adobo that was the norm.)  And I told her that she just had to try this particular kind of adobo!

So, on our next get together (a few days after), as a special treat for her, I cooked another batch of adobo sa dilaw!

She tasted it and liked it so much that she asked for the recipe. 

So here it is!

1 kilo pork, cubed
4 pieces yellow ginger
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp black and white peppercorns
1/3 cup tuba vinegar
1 cup soda water (7-Up or Sprite)
1 cup water
2 pieces bay leaf
1 teaspoon sea salt
sugar, to taste

Saute the yellow ginger, garlic and peppercorns.  Add the pork cubes.  Cook until the pork is lightly browned.  Pour in the vinger, soda and water; do not stir until the liquid boils.  Throw in the bay leaves and season with salt, and sugar, if desired.

Simmer until the pork is tender (for smaller cuts of pork it's about 30 minutes).  That's it!

♥