Adobong Atay ng Manok (Chicken Liver Adobo)

My wife made it a point of purchasing a tub of chicken liver every week for the past few months and she'd cook it adobo-style.  I obviously wondered what's up with that, and she said it's good for the baby (we were on the family way, and she's just given birth last Tuesday).  I decided to look around for some answers if chicken liver does indeed have health benefits and I came up with a list from Healthmad:

1. Helps prevent anemia
2. Promotes good eyesight
3. Helps promote fertility and prevents neural tube defects for the developing baby
4. Promotes healthy tissues
5. Keeps thyroid healthy
6. Helps the body fight stress
7. Keeps immune system healthy
8. Helps prevent pellagra
9. Promotes healthy skin, hair and nails
10. Helps keep teeth and bones healthy

So there's loads of health benefits to eating chicken liver after all!  For a more descriptive list of the benefits, visit the Healthmad website.

Personally, I like my chicken liver dry; my wife's recipe has a fair amount of sauce with it.  But I wouldn't like to argue with a pregnant woman!  If you want your chicken liver adobo dry like I do, skip the "boil the liver on water" part (second paragraph of the procedure) and just continue cooking until the sauce is nearly dried up.

Ingredients:

1 tub (350g) chicken liver
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup ketchup
1/4 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 laurel leaves
1/3 cup water
salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil

Procedure:
Marinate the chicken liver in the soy sauce, lemon, ketchup, black peppercorns, and laurel leaves for half an hour.

After the marinating period, separate the chicken liver and place on a pot with the water.  Set aside the marinade.  Bring water to a boil over medium heat, and continue cooking until water has evaporated.

Heat up the oil on a pan over medium heat.  Saute the onion and garlic, then add the chicken liver and the marinade.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for a couple more minutes.

This is essentially good to serve, but if you want the dry version, keep cooking until the sauce has all but dried up.  Avoid mixing in order to prevent  the liver from breaking up.  Season with salt if desired.

Serve with hot rice.