Chicken Adobo (cook's Illustrated)

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 55 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, 5 to 7 oz each
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 (13 1/2 ounce) can coconut milk
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced

Recipe

• 1 toss the chicken with the soy sauce in a large bowl. refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
• 2 remove chicken from the soy sauce allowing excess to drip back into the bowl. transfer the chicken, skin-side down, to a 12 inch non-stick skillet; set aside the soy sauce.
• 3 place the skillet over medium-high heat and cook until the chicken skin is browned 7 to 10 minutes.
• 4 while the chicken is browning, whisk coconut milk, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and pepper into the soy sauce. (i chopped the garlic).
• 5 transfer the chicken to a plate and discard the fat in the skillet. return the chicken to the skillet skin-side down, add the coconut milk mixture, and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. flip chicken skin side up and continue to cook, uncovered, until chicken is done, about 15 minutes (175 deg f internal temp).
• 6 transfer chicken to platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil.
• 7 remove bay leaves and skim any fat off surface of sauce. return skillet to medium-high heat and cook until sauce is thickened, 5 to 7 minutes.
• 8 pour sauce over chicken, sprinkle with scallion and serve.
• 9 note: i made half the recipe and found that the sauce reduced very quickly. i covered the skillet after turning the chicken, but still had very little sauce left - more fat. i will try stirring in some cream to make more sauce, but did not do so this time - the chicken was very moist and flavorful. in any event, if you do make just half the recipe, keep your eye on it!