rob balucas

Catalyst. Creative. Triathlete. Speaker. Cigar Aficionado. Amateur Behavioral Psychologist. Fresh Spring Roll Addict. Paraplegic at the moment.

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babaLucas filipino adobo recipe

Finally published.

My Filipino side doesn’t really make Adobo. Nor Pansit, nor Lumpia for that matter. About 10 years ago, I finally took matters into my own hands and went … where else? … Google to find authentic recipes. I came across a cookbook at a Filipino event. I watched hilarious videos on youtube.

I tried them all and made my own recipe below.

But as mentioned, finding coconut or sugar cane vinegar is KEY. White Vinegar is too strong and really sucks and just straight up isn’t authentic. Go to Ranch 99 in the Bay Area, or a local Asian / Filipino market. Pick up some frozen Shanghai lumpia too. Why not.

 

babaLucas clean adobo
Serves 4
Clean version of Filipino Chicken Adobo - meaning using healthy ingredients and easy cuts of chicken.

Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines. Most warm-weather countries have through the centuries developed recipes that preserve food while flavoring it. This dish is different than many because of its strong component of vinegar. It is at once sour, salty, and drenched in garlic.
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 lbs - Chicken, boneless skinless chicken thighs (OR add some drumsticks for bone flavor)
  2. 1 head - Garlic, coarsely chopped (yes, an entire head!)
  3. 1 - thumb-sized piece of ginger, coarsely sliced
  4. 1 cup - Organic Tamari Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce (or more to taste - or any soy sauce will do. I advise reduced sodium)
  5. 1 cup - coconut vinegar or sugar cane vinegar (this is the KEY authentic ingredient - find at Ranch 99 or other asian market)
  6. 1 cup - water
  7. 1 tsp - ground black pepper (or more to taste)
  8. 10 - black peppercorns (optional)
  9. 2 - bay leaves
  10. 2 tbl spoons - cooking oil
Instructions
  1. 1a - [optional] marinade the chicken over night. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, soy, ground black pepper, garlic, and ginger. Add the chicken OR pour over the chicken in a separate bowl and cover OR add chicken to a ziploc and pour over and seal. Let marinade in refrigerator over night.
  2. 1 - Heat the cooking oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan. Lightly brown garlic and ginger over medium-low heat (about 5 minutes).
  3. 2 - Add the chicken to the frypan and brown it over medium-high heat (about 5 minutes).
  4. 3 - Add vinegar, bay leaves, both peppers, soy sauce, and water and simmer, partly covered, until the chicken is done. About 45 minutes OR as long as possible (2 hours or so) over low heat with barely a light boil.
  5. 4 - Remove the bay leaves, serve chicken over rice with a generous spooning of sauce.
Notes
  1. You can substitute pork for the chicken, or mix the two.
  2. In the Philippines it is the custom to marinate the meat for two days rather before simmering. To marinate the chicken.
  3. This dish is too strongly flavored to go well with wine; try serving it with beer.
rob balucas https://robbalucas.com/

Alkaline Green Drink

Around April of 2011 I moved to San Francisco and really amped up my commitment to health and wellness.

Okay so really it came down to looking good naked.

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One of the major changes I made was to drink an alkalizing green drink every morning. Along with cutting out/minimizing foods we all know we shouldn’t eat and training for a triathalon, I lost 3 inches off my waist.

It was incredible. I have been a 34-inch waste since I can remember buying pants. One day I went shopping and had to go back 3 times to settle on a 31-inch waste in jeans.

I couldn’t believe it.

But I attribute green drinks as a major player in that change.

They alkaline my body. That produces two things:

1 – Long story short, it reduces inflammation

…in me that’s the Asian Buddha belly.

The days I eat crap and the days I don’t eat refined flour carbs, sugars, dairy, red meat & then drink my green drink. It allows my cells to relax and let go.

And let go they do.

Many people starting out find that they spend extra time on the toilet. Don’t let that discourage you! Your body is purging crap (literally) that it’s been holding on to because it’s stressed out by the wear and tear of processed foods.

2 – Along with that comes a renewed energy.

Your body is somewhere on a spectrum where one end is alkaline and the other end is acid (remember junior high chemistry? No you don’t. But follow along): remember acid burns crap? Yeah that’s one end of this spectrum, and on the other is the exact opposite = alkaline. Imagine the purest water, streams, fish, and rainbows.

The first thing they usually do in the emergency is hook you up to an saline solution. Saline solution hydrates you super fast and brings your body to the alkaline end of the spectrum because the trauma that brought you to the hospital in the first place either came from being on the acidic side of the spectrum OR your body goes to the acidic side as a symptom of the problem.

***this is incredibly simplified and I’m NOT a doctor.

Put this in your mix of health & wellness for a week or two and see for yourself.

Alkaline Green Drink
Serves 3
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Prep Time
10 hr
Cook Time
5 hr
Total Time
15 hr
Prep Time
10 hr
Cook Time
5 hr
Total Time
15 hr
Ingredients
  1. Spinach - handful
  2. Kale - handful
  3. Lemon - 1 large or 2 small
  4. Ginger - 2-3 slices of the root
  5. Orange - 1 large
  6. Coconut Water or purified Water - 16oz
  7. Banana - half
  8. Apple - half or whole
Optional
  1. Apple
  2. Mango or Pineapple (i get frozen from Trader Joes)
  3. Trader Joes Greens Mix -
  4. Spirulina Powder - http://amzn.to/14o3Qq3
  5. Blue Berries
  6. Acai - Sambazon frozen or juice
Instructions
  1. Peel ginger, cut a slices equivalent to half a pinky finger tip; ginger goes in first.
  2. Peel oranges and lemons, they go in second.
  3. Peel banana, slice apple, put those in 3rd.
  4. Add Spinach + Kale.
  5. Pour coconut water in slowly until it's covering about 1/3 of your contents
  6. HUGE TIP: water is the key to your blender processing the mix. most make the mistake of not enough water and the blender doesn't catch all the ingredients…don't drown your mix, but better to have a little MORE than a little less liquid.
rob balucas https://robbalucas.com/