pineapple pork adobo

I've talked about adobo many times in my previous posts. Considered the national dish of the Philippines, adobo is cooked in many different ways in various regions of the country. This interesting version I found made use of canned pineapples so I guess naming this dish Hawaiian Pork may also be appropriate. My version was inspired by this post from one of my favorite food websites. It featured pineapple pork belly adobo, one of the specialties of  Manila Machine, a food truck in the Los Angeles area, promoting and offering Filipino food. I used boneless pork shoulder instead of pork belly which worked out well. Pineapple juice and vinegar made a good combination. One of the easiest Filipino dishes to cook, this adobo may be made with or without the soy sauce. Slowly simmering the meat in the rich sauce makes it more flavorful. The procedure is very simple with only a few steps.

(1) Cut the pork into cubes and transfer to a heavy pot. (2) Add minced garlic (about 5 cloves), 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup pineapple juice, salt and pepper to the pork (3) Simmer until pork is tender. (4) With a slotted spoon, scoop out the pork from the sauce, transfer to a bowl then set aside. (5) Reduce the sauce to half then strain it into a bowl to get rid of the bits of garlic. (6) Transfer the pork back to the pot and pan fry until golden brown. (7) Pour the sauce back to the pork. (8) Pan-fry the pineapple slices and add last or just before serving. Steps 4-7 are optional but pan frying the pork and reducing the sauce have always been my preference. Serve hot on steamed rice.

the pineapple pork adobo is shown above as a rice topping