Philippine dish "Adobo" and Mashed Pumpkin with spicy cod roe mayonnaise

I am featuring here one of the most favorite Philippine foods all over the world, "adobo".  Adobo can easily be cooked. It can be all chicken or all pork or a combination of both. Bite-sized pieces of meat are marinated for at least 15 minutes in soy sauce with garlic and black pepper. Then minced garlic is sauteed in oil (here, I used olive oil) until it is lightly brown in color.  The marinated mixture is then sauteed into the pan with garlic, added with 1 bay leaf and some peppercorns. After 5 minutes of heating in medium fire and turning the meat occasionally, water is added to tenderize the meat. It is always my habit to add hot water so boiling continues even if water is added. Then, I add a tablespoon of vinegar to it and let the mixture boil further until water becomes less and the meat has become soft.  The pan is covered during cooking.  I prefer to have more sauce so I stop cooking  right amount of sauce has remained. Adobo goes well with the fresh leaves of a Japanese herb called "ashitaba". It is becoming a very popular herb because of its nutritional benefits found in recent studies.




Philippine "adobo" with the nutritious leaf called "ashitaba" (a Japanese herbal plant) and mashed pumpkin with spicy cod roe or "mentaiko" mayonnaise

 The other dish I am showing you here is so easy to prepare. It is mashed pumpkin. After washing the pumpkin, I just put the big chunk in a pressure cooker with water enough to soak it. I pressure cook for 15 minutes to soften even the green outer part. Afterwards, I add salt and black pepper and mashed everything. I top it with spicy cod roe mayonnaise or the Japanese mentaiko mayonnaise which I have purchased from the Hakata station of Fukuoka City, Japan.  Spicy cod roe is actually fermented cod roe with red chili pepper.  This dish blends well with sliced cucumbers.