Chicken Feet Adobo is a Filipino dish made by boiling chicken feet in water along with sprite, pepper corn, lemongrass, bay leaves and salt and then sautéing in a sauce made with onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar and salt. Adobo is a popular Filipino dish made with lot of meat and this one is another variation. This savoury and sticky chicken feet adobo or adobong paa ng manok is well served with steamed rice.

CHICKEN FEET ADOBO

Chicken feet has been a part of the Philippine cuisine for a long time. The first time I tasted chicken feet was when my auntie offered me a grilled one. I won’t deny I got choked for the first time because I didn’t know how to eat them. Unlike other people, I don’t find chicken feet strange. I like it. Super like it!!

As I venture out of the chicken feet as street food, I started preparing chicken feet dishes at home, starting with the famous chicken feet adobo. What makes this dish uniquely delicious is the texture of the chicken feet covered with our classic adobo sauce. This dish is a great way to introduce starters to chicken feet dishes.

4 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHICKEN FEET

Here are 3 shocking facts you didn’t know about chicken feet:

The meat in the chicken is not meat! It is actually made out of collagen and tendons which gives its unique texture.
Chicken feet is actually nutritious despite rumors that it has no nutritional benefits. It is rich in Vitamin B9.
The cartilage found in the chicken feet can be used as a thickening agent for broths. (WOW!)
Chicken feet are full of bones—best used in making bone broths.

A QUICK CHICKEN FEET HISTORY

Chicken feet dishes are commonly associated with the Asian cuisine, particularly the Chinese. While this is true, a lot of other countries also enjoy this delicacy. There is the dim-sum style dish from China, kholodets in Russia, soto in Indonesia and a whole lot more dishes from different countries.

At first, chicken feet are discarded when dressing chickens, especially in Western countries. For them, they consider it “strange” to put on their plate. But for Asian countries, what they are discarding belongs to one of the greatest delicacies in the world. Also, you know, Asians do not like leftover foods.

More and more delicious chicken feet dishes are evolving and developed. One of the most famous chicken feet dish in the Philippines is chicken feet adobo.

HOW TO PREPARE CHICKEN FEET

Unlike preparing other chicken cuts, you will need a few extra steps in handling your chicken feet adobo from cleaning to cooking.

As you buy freshly cut chicken feet from the market, you’ll notice white excess skin on each of them. It is important to remove these as it can affect the overall texture of your dish. Also, chop the nails using a knife. This step might be tedious so prepare extra energy before you start.

In cooking chicken feet, we are doing the pre-boiling method first. This includes boiling the chicken feet in water with soda, peppercorns, bay leaves and lemongrass. The lemon soda will help tenderize the chicken while the lemongrass improves taste and aroma of the dish.

This whole method helps in removing the “malansa” taste of the chicken feet.

After the pre-boiling method, the rest of the steps will follow the similar steps on making the classic Filipino adobo. Saute the aromatics together with the chicken feet to sear them a bit. Add the rest of the ingredients one by one to form the savoury broth. Let it simmer until the feet are super soft and sticky. Lastly, add the vinegar and cook until the sauce almost dries up.

I really like to make papak the chicken feet but it really goes super good with hot steaming rice. Enjoy!