Adobo Chicken Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette by Janis Cooking

This is the first of my two official entries to PinoyFoodista Cooking Challenge. I created PinoyFoodista with my friend Pia to unite all Pinoy foodies in one place and to introduce Filipino food to all foodies from different parts of the world. We’d like to show everyone that Filipino food is actually more than just a classic Chicken Adobo.

Then again, Chicken Adobo is really our signature dish. And that’s why I thought of using it in one of my salad entries to this month’s PinoyFoodista Cooking Challenge. It is a monthly online cooking challenge where we create dishes following a specific theme and then submit them to PinoyFoodista for voting. For January 2011, we’re asked to create our own Sumptuous Salad and I came up with my own Chicken Adobo Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

3 pcs. of leftover Chicken Adobo, shredded (save the sauce)
2 pcs. hard-boiled eggs, halved
2 pcs. tomatoes, sliced into 4 parts each
pineapple tidbits
raisins (optional)
croutons
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar (add more if you want it sweeter)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Shred your leftover chicken adobo and fry them. Spoon up some sauce just to keep them wet but don’t put in a lot of sauce because you don’t want your salad to be dripping wet. When you reach your desired level of crunchiness, you can take it out of the heat. I know I couldn’t maintain the crunchiness of my shreds because I had to transport everything to the office so I just kinda cooked it for 5 minutes and I was done.

Put the pineapple juice, vinegars, and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. When boiling, reduce the heat to low and let simmer for another 3 minutes. Set aside and let cool. When you’re ready to assemble, mix it with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

I assembled the salad at the office because incidentally, we also had our Salad Tournament. It was so hard packing up everything, bringing them to the office, and making sure they’re still fresh by lunch time.

Anyhow, to assemble the salad, just lay down the greens on a plate. Arrange the eggs, tomatoes, pineapples and raisins. Drizzle with the pineapple vinaigrette. Top with the shredded chicken. Then finally, drizzle with the leftover chicken adobo sauce and top with croutons.

If you’re truly Filipino, and maybe the likes of my husband who wants his Chicken Adobo with rice only, you will find the salad a bit on the adventurous side. My husband actually thought that for someone who grew up eating Chicken Adobo with rice, to see it with salad greens is already surprising. On that note, this salad is a surprise and does bring out flavors that will tickle your palate. Imagine you got adobo, eggs, tomatoes, pineapple, and greens and the marriage of flavors they bring out.

Adobo is always a strong-flavored dish with vinegar and soy sauce in it. Using it in what should supposedly be a light salad with greens and tomatoes is like taking risks. To balance it out, I would suggest adding croutons, or maybe getting bread and creating a sandwich using the salad as a filling. That way, you end up with something heavy.

All in all, it was a nice, unique, and adventurous salad dish that you can create for your family and friends .

Pinoy Food recipe from: http://janiscooking.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/chicken-adobo-salad-with-pineapple-vinaigrette/