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Bread Chicken, duck & turkey Eggs Appetizers Snacks

Filipino chicken adobo and quail eggs canapés

Published: 07.30.2017 » Last updated: 03.23.2022

A modern way to serve Filipino chicken adobo.

Filipino chicken adobo and quail eggs canapes

Pounded chicken thigh fillets were marinated in adobo sauce, twice fried, laid on lightly toasted pan de sal halves smeared with liver pâté then topped with fried quail eggs, crispy fried garlic and finely sliced scallions.

Marinating chicken thigh fillets to cook Filipino adobo

Thesechicken adobo and quail eggs canapés start with chicken thigh fillets with the skin on. I wouldn’t recommend skinless fillets and especially NOT breast fillets. The chicken has to be marinated in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce; since vinegar dries out meat, you need the fatty skin to make up for whatever effect the vinegar’s acid may have on the meat.

Frying marinated chicken thigh fillets

The marinated chicken thigh fillets can be fried or grilled. I fried mine. To make sure that the fillets wouldn’t turn too dark (the soy sauce, you see) before the meat was cooked through, I opted for the double-frying technique which is described in more detail in the recipe below.

To make them truly modern Filipino, I chose home baked pan de sal as the base for these chicken adobo and quail eggs canapés. And because traditional Filipino adobo includes liver, I smeared the lightly toasted pan de sal halves with liver pâté.

But why quail eggs? Because these arecanapés. Chicken eggs would be too large and they would have fully covered the chicken adobo. Quail eggs, on the other hand, were just the right size.

Filipino chicken adobo and quail eggs canapés

Connie Veneracion
Serve these chicken adobo and quail eggs canapés with pale pilsen for a truly Filipino touch.
Filipino chicken adobo and quail eggs canapes
Print Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 12 mins
Marinating time 30 mins
Total Time 52 mins
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 6 canapés

Ingredients
  

  • 3 to 6 chicken thigh fillets skin on - halved if large
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 2 to 4 bay leaves
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons rice vinegar - if using a stronger vinegar, reduce the amount
  • 6 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 ½ cups cooking oil - for frying
  • 6 teaspoons liver pâté - or substitute canned liver spread
  • 3 small pan de sal - halved and toasted
  • 6 quail eggs - fried sunny side up
  • fried garlic
  • finely sliced scallions

Instructions
 

Marinate the chicken

  • Arrange the chicken thigh fillets between two sheets of cling film. Using a kitchen mallet, pound to a uniform thickness of no more than a quarter of an inch thick.
  • Make the adobo sauce. In a bowl, stir the minced garlic, bay leaves, pepper, rice vinegar and soy sauce.
  • Place the pounded chicken thigh fillets in a shallow bowl and pour the adobo sauce over them. Cover the bowl and leave to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Fry the chicken adobo

  • Pour the cooking oil into a frying pan. Set the heat to medium (if using a thermometer, about 320F).
  • Strain the chicken thigh fillets and fry (in two batches, if the frying pan cannot hold all of them in a single layer) for about two minutes per side. Scoop out and move to a rack. Cool for five minutes.
  • Reheat the cooking oil; this time turn up the heat to high (about 375F). Fry the chicken fillets a second time. A minute per side should create a nice caramelized crust if the oil is hot enough. Scoop the chicken out of the oil and move to a rack.

Assemble the canapés

  • Spread a teaspoonful of liver pâté on each of the toasted pan de sal halves.
  • Place a chicken fillet on each of the liver pâté-smeared bread.
  • Lay a fried quail egg over the chicken.
  • Sprinkle fried garlic and sliced scallions over the eggs and chicken.
  • Serve the chicken adobo and quail eggs canapés at once.
Print Pin Recipe
Keyword Chicken, Chicken Fillets, Filipino Adobo

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Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

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