Chicken Adobo

This has quickly become one of my favorite meals for three reasons:

1. It tastes awesome.
2. The ingredients are simple and cheap.
3. CROCKPOT.

Don't you love crockpot recipes?  Don't they continue to amaze you and make your life easier? Don't you secretly feel like a sneaky genius who has duped everyone into thinking you worked all day on one meal?

Along with a crockpot, you will also need a knife, measuring cup and measuring spoons, if you don't feel comfortable enough to just eye measurements.  You can cook a pot of rice once your crockpot is turned off and on the warm setting if you'd like.  I think brown rice rounds out the flavors very nicely.

Before and after cooking for four hours

Crockpot Chicken Adobo
Serves 4 (or 2 + a few leftover meals)

8 chicken thighs
2 onions, sliced or chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 tbs brown sugar
1 bay leaf (buy the bay leaves in the Hispanic spice section if you can...they come in a small bag and are much cheaper than the spices in the baking aisle.  Look for the brand Badia)
2 tsp paprika
spinach (optional)
scallions (optional)
toasted sesame seeds (optional)


Rinse the chicken thighs and pat them dry with a paper towel.  Set aside.

Combine the next six ingredients in the crockpot.  You don't really need to stir at all, but I would try to pour the liquids and sprinkle the sugar all over.  Place the thighs on top and sprinkle with paprika. Paprika doesn't have a strong taste (it's all about the color) so you can use an extra teaspoon if you like, and/or add black pepper on top.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  Either way, the onions will be soft and the chicken will fall right off the bone.  I like to fold half of a bag of spinach in right before serving, and throw some chopped scallions and sesame seeds on top.

Filipino Lumpia

I had never had lumpia before but I have heard rave reviews from my boyfriend Matthew.  He was friends with a Filipino guy named Dan, and boy could Dan's mom cook!  The longer I am gluten-free, the more I crave Asian food.  So when lumpia was brought up in conversation again, I knew I had to try it out.  There are very, very few recipes for gluten-free lumpia on the internet, so I am going to give it a shot!

The biggest challenge with this sort of food is the wrapper issue.  Of course, finding egg roll, spring roll or wonton wrappers are easy to find at grocery stores now, but they almost always contain wheat.  So I went to my local Asian market and bought rice wrappers.  By the way, I advise you to spend a lot of time in your Asian market.  From the dishes to the produce to the gigantic aisle of Japanese candy, I promise you will be entertained for quite a while!  Buy some mochi candy (made with glutinous rice, which is not gluten!  It just means sticky) while you're at it.  The texture is weird and amazing.

 

These are the wrappers I bought for $2.50

These weren't hard to work with; just fill a large bowl or dish with warm water, submerge one wrapper at a time for just a few seconds, then pull it out and fill it. They are the same wrappers you would get when ordering summer rolls (mmm, peanut sauce).  

Before and after frying

Mine look lumpy and bubbled up because that's exactly what the rice paper does when frying: it turns into gooey bubbles!  It hardens quickly so don't touch it unless you want your tongs to stick to the roll.

Gluten-free Filipino Lumpia

(makes 35 rolls)

1 package of rice paper wrappers

1 - 1.5 lb ground pork or beef

3 cloves of garlic, smashed and roughly chopped

1 cup of chopped onions

1 cup of sliced green cabbage

1/2 cup of shredded carrots

1 tsp gluten-free tamari (such as San-J)

2 - 4 cups vegetable oil, depending on the size of your pan

Add a small amount of oil to a large pan and brown the pork on medium-high heat.  Remove from the pan once browned and let drain in a sieve or colander.  Cook the garlic and onions for a minute or two, add the carrots and cabbage, turning a few times.  Your meat should be drained by now; add it to the pan and combine everything, including tamari.  Remove the pan from heat and let it cool.  

While waiting for the filling to cool off, it's a good idea to set up your lumpia station!  It helps to have a helper so you can work twice as fast.  For the rice wrappers, fill a large bowl or dish with warm water.  Keep a towel on the counter so you can wipe up any water that will drip around. Prepare a pan or dish to place your filled lumpia in.

Once the filling has cooled, you can begin to make the lumpia.  Soak a wrapper for roughly 5 seconds, pull it out of the dish and let the excess water drip off.  Put it down on your counter and stuff it with 1 or 2 tablespoons of the filling, depending on how large you want the rolls.  Place the filling towards the top of the wrapper, then roll it once.  Fold the sides so you close off the filling, then finish rolling.  Place the lumpia on the pan, wipe off any water that is left on the counter, and repeat.  

Now that you have a billion little lumpia rolls waiting to be fried, get out a large skillet (or clean the first one you used, if it is deep enough for frying) and pour the oil in.  I used 4 cups of oil, you want it at least an inch to an inch and a half deep.  Your lumpia needs to fry without sitting on the bottom, or else the wrapper will adhere to the pan and you will rip the entire roll open and spill filling into the oil....yeah, I learned the hard way on this one!  

Place a few rolls in at the same time, let fry on one side then turn it over.  The rice wrappers will bubble a little bit and get really sticky until they harden.  At this point you can fry until they are golden, or you can fry them until crispy then bake them (this is what I did, at 400° for about 15 minutes).

While lumpia may seem like a bit of a challenge, it's really all about time and patience.  While they don't look the same as traditional lumpia, they taste wonderful and according to Matthew (who devoured most of these within 24 hours), they taste "like normal!"  

Coming soon:

Chicken Adobo

Goals

I think striving for normalcy is my main goal as a gluten-free person. Before being diagnosed with Celiac, I was an experimental eater who enjoyed trying new foods and ate out pretty often.  Now I would call myself an adventurous cook who eats out occasionally.  I still eat everything I used to eat, but now I make it myself.

I am hoping to inspire people, whether they have Celiac Disease or not, to cook at home more.  Fewer processed foods and more healthy, natural foods.  Cooking your own meals is not difficult and I promise, the food will taste better. You will have a sense of accomplishment and the thank yous that your family will say to you are far more satisfying than hearing your microwave beep when it is done zapping your frozen meal.  Eating gluten-free is easy, as long as you keep it simple and are willing to make a few substitutions here and there.  So whip out your cutting board and let's get started!