This is an excerpt from Eater’s debut cookbook Focus on great brunch dishes you want to add to your repertoire. 2021 Best New Restaurants Kasama City, Chicago.
Kasama, a Filipino-style gastropub and bakery, has seen long lines since it opened.
Baker and co-owner Jeannie Kwon is in charge of the pastries, which include eclair-shaped Danish pastries topped with jamon, croissants stuffed with coconut cream and passion fruit jam, and Basque cheesecake with ube. Her husband, Tim Flores, is responsible for the savory sides and offers a daytime menu inspired by Filipino traditions. You’ll also find riffs on Italian Beef Her Combo, roast beef and sausage seasoned with roast her beef and sausage, and classics like crispy lumpia and rustic chicken his adobo.
Kasama’s Mushroom Adobo takes a masterful approach to traditional Filipino methods and pushes its umami to the core (in the case of the completely meatless, vegetable stock version). It is also a discreet blockbuster with garlic fried rice and a fried egg.
Kasama Mushroom Adobo Recipe
4 servings
material:
For garlic fried rice:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
12 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
4 cups cooked and cooled white rice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For mushrooms:
Tear or roughly chop 1 pound of mushrooms of your choice (oysters, maitake, beech, and shiitake can all be used individually or mixed together).
6 garlic cloves (chopped)
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup unsalted or low-sodium chicken stock
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar, more if needed
2 tablespoons butter
salt
If provided:
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Sliced leek (optional)
Instructions:
step 1: To make garlic fried rice, heat vegetable oil in a large wok or skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium and add minced garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the garlic is light golden brown. Carefully strain the garlic from the pan, leaving behind the garlic-infused oil. Place the fried garlic on paper towels until cool.
Step 2: Add the cooked rice to the garlic oil in the wok and stir so that all the grains are coated with the oil. Spread the rice over the wok, covering as much of the surface area of the hot pan as possible. Cook the rice as it is for 3-5 minutes. Stir the rice well, then spread it out again and cook gently for another 3-5 minutes. Continue doing this until the rice is cooked to your liking. Season the rice with salt and pepper and set aside.
Step 3: To make the mushrooms, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat without oil. Once the pan is warm, add a handful of mushrooms and brown them. Work in batches and be careful not to overfill the pan, as the mushrooms will release liquid and you want to keep them crisp.
Step 4: Once the mushrooms are browned, add the garlic and continue to sauté until the garlic is golden brown. Add the vinegar, scrape off any burnt bits on the pan, mix, and continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the soy sauce, chicken stock, and brown sugar to the pan and reduce the sauce by half. Add the butter to emulsify the sauce. Add brown sugar and salt to taste if desired.
Step 5: Heat a large skillet over medium heat and fry the eggs in a little oil.
Step 6: Serve the mushroom adobo on top of the garlic rice. Place a fried egg on top of it. Garnish with crispy garlic and scallion slices if using.
Recipe tested by Louis Victor
Adapted from EATER: 100 must-have recipes for your restaurant By Hillary Dixler Canavan. Text and illustrations copyright © Vox Media, LLC. Written by Hilary Dixler Canavan, illustrated by Alice Orr. Photo Copyright © 2023 by Laura Murray. Published by Abrams.
