My mom's filipino food...

Growing up, my mom would always make lugao when I was sick. I knew it only as lugao - and it was comforting, warm, satisfying. It was not until I was a little older when my culinary vocabulary expanded with congee at dim sum and the "rice porridge" for the layman. Now, unfortunately and to my mother's dismay, I can never savor my mom's lugao as I have shunned all meat, including chicken. One day, maybe I'll test and see if I can make lugao with seitan or chicken-style tofu, but it'll probably never be how my mom made it.

Through my prying and whining, I cornered my mom one day to teach me how to make lugao and adobo. "It's simple!" she said, "it's so easy!" She did not give me accurate measurements, but just visual examples of the sizes for each ingredients:

Lugao

1-2 tbs canola
approx. 1 tsp ginger, minced
1 small yellow onion, minced
1-2 defrosted chicken breasts (optional- or add veggies)
Water
1/2 cup white rice
1/2 cup sticky rice

In a medium/large pot, fry the ginger and onion in the oil. Add the chicken. When fully cooked, add water to cover chicken, add rice and simmer until desired thickness.


Adobo is a Filipino classic. When I think of Filipino food, I think of adobo, pancit, and lugau. You can make adobo with okra instead of chicken...I've so far tried it with chicken-style seitan, which did not turn out okay.

Adobo

oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 chicken breasts, defrosted (optional - you can use okra)
patis (fish sauce) (optional)
vinegar (I hear from my Aunty Flory apple cider vinegar is the best)
1-2 bay leaf
(4-6) whole peppercorns

Fry garlic in oil. Once brown, add defrosted chicken. Add a little patis, stir, add vinegar. Do not stir. Let it boil and then half-cover and lower the heat to let it simmer. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns. Let it simmer until the sauce thickens and the meat is tender. Stir.