Food and being Kapampangan -- my first Adobo recipe

Kapampangan = good food! That is always the association one gets in the Philippines. I grew up in Manila with my Kapampangan parents and grandmother.  Good, warm, comforting food was always a given.  There was always enough food on the table, for our family, for our friends.

Living away from home for quite some time now, I tap into my innermost Kapampangan-ness to try to recreate recipes that I have grown up with, and experiment with new ones.  

Here is my first recipe from my Mom -- the ultimate in Filipino comfort food, adobo.

Auring's Chicken and Pork Adobo

 1/2 kilo chicken, cut into serving pieces
1/2 kilo pork, with a little fat, and cut into serving pieces
100 ml soy sauce (preferably a Filipino brand, like Silver Swan, or Kikkoman)
100 ml vinegar (preferably Silver Swan white cane vinegar)
5-6 cloves garlic
black pepper
2-3 laurel leaves

Put the chicken and pork in a cooking pot, then add the soy sauce and vinegar.  Crush lots of garlic, add into the mixture. Crush some black pepper and add in. Finally, put in the laurel leaves.  Let the meat marinate in the mixture for about 30 minutes to an hour, then boil. Once boiling, cover pot and turn down heat to a simmer until cooked.  Do not mix with a spoon, just move around a bit so all parts are evenly cooked. An important piece of information from my Mom and the secret to our adobo, she claims, is that - once the adobo is cooked, take off the pot cover so that the extra water evaporates. Serve with warm, steaming white rice.