The Magic of Mascobado

These past days i've been avoiding cooking dishes that need a lot of time to cook for fear of the gas stove dying on me. But tonight the need for comfort food was too strong so i thought, "f*** it, so be it," and proceeded to make my family's version of adobo. I chopped up some pork belly, lots of garlic, onions, a finger chili (my husband likes it spicy), submerged them in a pot with soy sauce, vinegar, some Worcestershire sauce and kept my fingers crossed. When it reached a rolling boil I added laurel leaves, a bit of salt and the magic ingredient my friend's husband taught me to use - mascobado sugar. It makes all the difference. The result was well worth the risk and using up all my gas. A dark, sweet and salty adobo with just a hint of heat that hits the spot.