Instant Pot Pork Adobo

Instant Pot Pork Adobo - made April 23, 2019 from The Recipe Pot

Now that I'm on my pseudo-semi-retirement for a few weeks, I'm doing more cooking and, in case you haven't been able to tell yet, less baking. Hard as it is to believe, I think I've lost my baking mojo. I used to want to try a bunch of different dessert recipes, troll pinterest, go through all my baking books, yada yada. But, in the temporary condo I'm staying in, there aren't coworkers and friends all around me to gobble up my baking experiments. My parents and my sister can only consume so many empty calories and I'm cutting back on carbs and sugar. (I know, who am I?)

So in times like these, I try my hand at cooking instead. Of course, don't think this means I turn into a gourmet chef or a chef of any kind. I enjoy eating, not cooking. But I can cook passably enough that I can eat my own cooking (more or less) and being off from work gives me enough time to look for recipes, buy ingredients and actually cook. Cooking for me is always a production. In a 10-ingredient recipe, I will likely only have 1 or 2 ingredients on hand and would have to buy the rest. Or I'd have most of it but would be missing one key ingredient.

Such as for this one. I had half an onion left after the Penne Alla Vodka with Chicken recipe, I had thick-cut pork chops from a prior Costco run, I had the spices, I had the soy sauce and vinegar. But I had run out of Penzey's minced garlic and didn't have enough for the recipe.  Fortunately, there's a grocery store within walking distance of my condo so going to get a bulb of garlic became part of my workout for the day.

I love Filipino adobo. My mom makes it and she makes it well. I can make a passable adobo and liked the last Chicken Adobo I made in my instant pot. So I thought I'd try my hand at Pork Adobo this time. The recipe is as easy as it looks. I cut up the thick cut pork chops into cubes. I didn't have pork butt but figured the chops would be good enough. "Sauteed" the pork chunks and threw the rest of the ingredients into the Instant Pot. When it was done pressure cooking and had released pressure, I let it boil on Saute for another 20 minutes. I don't know that the sauce thickened as much as evaporated so it wasn't so plentiful but that's also how adobo is traditionally made. My mom lets it boil until the sauce is reduced and the flavor has intensified. Not to mention the meat becoming tender. Which it did thanks to the Instant Pot.

The sauce turned out a bit more bland than I expected. I'm used to adobo having a bite, primarily from the vinegar. At least, my mom's does and that's what makes it abobo and delicious. It could be because I didn't eat it with rice which is the perfect accompaniment to the sauce but next time, I think I would up the vinegar, brown the garlic and leave off the onion. My mom doesn't make it with onion and she confirmed she uses a 3:1 ratio of vinegar to soy sauce in her adobo. I'll have to try that next time.

1 tablespoon canola oil
3 pounds pork butt, cut into 1 1/2" cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water

1. Using the Saute function on Normal, heat oil. Add pork cubes and cook, turning as needed, until browned on all sides. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Add onions, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves.
3. In a bow, combine vinegar, soy sauce and water. Pour into the pot over meat mixture.
4. Close the lid, making sure the valve is on Sealing position and cook on High pressure for 10 minutes. Do a quick release and open lid.
5. Turn on the Saute feature on Normal and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
6. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot with steamed rice.