Adobong Tahong

Adobong Tahong is a Filipino adobo style stewed green mussel, boiled with ginger and cooked in a delicious sauteed sauce made by soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, pepper, vinegar, bay leaves, red chilies and oil. Make your mussel a gourmet dish by transforming it to the savoury and spicy mussel adobo. Best eaten together with some ice cold beer or as a viand to your hot steaming rice. Yum!

WHAT IS A MUSSEL?

If the mussel you are thinking is the one at your arms, nope you got it wrong (HAHA). Mussel is a type of mollusk found at the sea. If you’re a fan of the Little Mermaid, you might be thinking that all clams look the same as the one Ariel is wearing. But nope again! There are a lot of other clams and mussels are one of the edible and tasty ones.

Mussels are the type of shells which are black in color and has a small, orange and black meat inside. As a child, I used to eat boiled tahong in ginger, I remember opening the shell very gently as to not separate them. After eating the meat, I then decorate the shells into a plate since they look like black butterflies.

Mussel meat is really small. It would take me around 20 pieces of them to be fully satisfied. Even though removing them from the shell is a bit challenging, having the mussel meat always feels rewarding.

ADOBONG TAHONG

As a person, I really love having rituals when eating. By rituals, I mean doing extra steps before actually scooping the food into my mouth. But unlike me, my partner was my complete opposite. He is the type who wants to simply shovel everything from his plate to his mouth. (That’s why he likes boneless dishes).

I have been cooking adobong tahong ever since I lived with my partner. We both enjoy mussels but it is always my job to help him gather those tiny meat from the shells. Adobong tahong (and other dishes like this) is one of the best to serve for people like him. This dish is  perfect for people like him, and for kids for easy eating.

Serve your mussels with the OG filipino dish, adobo! You’ll definitely gonna have a new kind of experience. Try the recipe below!

HOW TO COOK ADOBONG TAHONG

If you have tried cooking adobo recipes before, this recipe will be easy peasy for you.

For this recipe, our special ingredient and our main meat is one among the underrated seafood — the mussels. Start by picking the freshest mussels you can find at the market. I usually go to the market to buy some mussels in the morning, when they are freshly delivered and covered in ice. There is really no way to know whether a seafood is fresh. What I do is smell them for a bit. If they smell like the ocean, then you’ll know they’re fresh.

Wash your mussels thoroughly. Some mussels still have sand inside them. Instead of just letting the water run through the shells, I usually pour a lot of water on the mussels and wash them  underwater. I also have read hacks on how to remove sands from clams and shells like soaking them in water and adding some salt (to copy the saltwater). You can also try this hack if the mussels you got are too sandy.

When your mussels are ready, simply boil them together with ginger until they open up. Not all shells will open at the same time. As long as many of them are already open, drain the water and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process.

The next part would be a bit tedious. Remember that the only seafood meat we are gonna need is the small meat inside the shells. It would take a lot of mussels to have a handful amount of mussel meat for our adobo. Use this as a bonding time and let your kids help you with separating the mussel meat from the shell. The wood hair is a hairy like thing near the center of the mussel. You can either remove it or not according to your preference.

Now that the mussel meat are prepared, the next steps would be similar to other adobo dishes. Saute the aromatics and the mussel meat, but only for a few seconds. Over-cooking them will make them too chewy. Add the rest of the ingredients until you make a nice adobo sauce. I like my adobong tahong spicy so I put a handful of red chilies in it. When the sauce is reduced, then your adobo is ready.

Enjoy your adobong tahong as a pulutan or with hot steaming rice. Enjoy!

Adobong Tahong Recipe (TAGALOG)

Mga Sangkap:

• 2 kilo ng tahong
• 1 luya (hiniwa)
• 3 butil ng bawang (hiniwa ng maliliit)
• 2 kutsara ng toyo
• 2 kutsara ng suka
• 1 kutsara ng oyster sauce
• 1/4 kutsarita ng paminta
• 2 – 3 piraso dahon ng laurel
• Siling labuyo
• Mantika (pang-gisa)

Paano Gawin:

1. Hugasan ang mga tahong at ilagay sa pot. Sunod na ilagay ang luya. Lagyan ito ng tamang dami ng tubig. Takpan ang pot at pakuluan ang mga shells hanggang bumuka.
2. Kapag bumuka na ang mga tahong, patayin ang apoy. Salain at banlawan ang mga tahong gamit ang malamig na tubig.
3. Kapag hindi na mainit, alisin ang tahong meat sa mga shells at ilagay sa bowl. Alisin ang mga wood hair kung mayroon  man.
4. Magpainit ng mantika. Igisa ang bawang ng ilang minuto hanggang maging light brown. Ilagay ang mga tahong at igisa ng ilang segundo.
5. Ilagay ang dahon ng laurel at budburan ng paminta. Maglagay ng sili kung gusto mo itong ienjoy nang maanghang.
6. Sunod na ilagay ang toyo, oyster sauce at suka. Wag muna haluin para maluto muna ang suka.
7. Haluin ito hanggang kumonti at lumapot ang sabaw. Patayin ang apoy.
8. Ilipat ang adobong tahong sa serving bowl. Ihain ito bilang pulutuan or isama sa mainit na kanin. Yummy!