Filipino chicken barbeque

Living in Adelaide is great especially when it comes to the range and quality of food we have here. But sometimes when homesickness strikes I crave for food from home. A couple of weeks ago, I felt that I really, really, really have to eat chicken inasal or chicken barbeque like the ones you get at any street corner in the Philippines. In Davao, where I grew up, we have the famous Colasa's Chicken Barbeque, which started as a hole-in-the-wall but now is a real institution that spawned a million copy cats. Anyway, I digress, I was craving for Colasa's Chicken barbeque and since I can not get it here, I have to make it myself. I emailed my mum for her recipe but as any home recipe it was always, "to taste", "when you see that it's color is like this", "when it starts to smell like...". This is my version of my mum's recipe. There is no exact measurements as everything is according to taste and feel :)



What you need:

chicken thighs or legs
soy sauce
brown onion (or shallots),chopped
cloves garlic, finely chopped
sprite or 7-up (or beer)
freshly ground black pepper
brown sugar
ketchup (optional)

How to:

1. Make the marinade by mixing the soy sauce, onion (or shallots), garlic, pepper, sprite, brown sugar and kechup (if using).
2. Marinate chicken in the marinade for at least an hour.
3. Thread the chicken in thick wooden skewers, if you want (or have them).
4. Grill (in an open charcoal fire is best but grilling them in the BBQ, like I did, will do).
5. Baste the chicken from time to time using the marinade.
6. Serve with spiced vinegar and/or soy sauce,calamansi and fresh chili dip.

Of course this is best eaten with rice and achara (green papaya pickle salad).

My mum's variation:

*Use balsamic vinegar instead of soy sauce.
*Can also omit the onions.