I'm giving you a recipe with enough sauce for 8 chicken thighs, but use the number you prefer

Trim the thighs to remove excess skin and pockets of fat and season with salt and pepper

Heat peanut oil over medium-high heat in a heavy frying pan that's large enough that chicken will fit in a single layer

Brown chicken skin side down, rearranging the pieces during the cooking time for optimal browning if needed. (I'd brown the chicken 5-6 minutes for thighs, and a minute or two less if you use chicken breasts.

Turn chicken thighs over and brown the other side about 4 minutes (or a bit less time for chicken breasts.

While chicken browns, combine Low-Sodium Soy Sauce, white wine vinegar, water, minced or crushed garlic, bay leaves, coarse black pepper, and pinch of Ground Chipotle Pepper (if using) to make the sauce.

Pour Adobe sauce mixture over the browned chicken and cook covered at the very lowest possible simmer about 10 minutes. (For chicken breasts I would lower the time to 5-6 minutes.)

Then turn chicken over in the liquid and cook covered at very lowest simmer for 10 minutes longer, or until the chicken is cooked through. (For chicken breasts I'd lower the time to 4 minutes for the second side.)

Remove chicken to a plate and cover tightly with foil to keep warm.

Increase heat under the pan to medium and cook the sauce until it's reduced enough to coat your spoon, about 10-15 minutes, but taste and make sure it's not getting too strong.

(This simmering time is also good to make sure there's no bacteria from cooking the chicken in the sauce, although the danger is minimal because you don't add the sauce until the chicken is mostly cooked.)

If you don't think the chicken under the foil is warm enough when the sauce has thickened, you can put chicken pieces back into the reduced sauce and simmer a couple of minutes; we didn't need to do that.

Serve chicken with the reduced sauce spooned over and extra sauce on the side.