Chicken Afritada

Since Philippines was colonized by Spain many many years ago, some of our dishes were introduced by the Spaniards especially those tomato sauce based stews. All of them are similar in appearances the only difference is the meat used and how the sauce was thickened. And one of these so-called stews is the Afritada.


Pork can also be used for this dish but I like it best with Chicken. Next time I will show you varieties of tomato sauce based stews dishes like Mechado, Caldereta and Menudo. But for now here is my recipe for Afritada.


Ingredients:
whole chicken cut into small pieces
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 small onion chopped
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1 medium size red or green bell pepper cut into strips
3 potatoes, peeled and quartered
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup bread crumbs - optional

Directions:
1] Pan fry chicken pices in hot oil until it changes color then set aside
2] In the same pan, saute garlic and onions.
3] Add tomato sauce and chicken stock. Simmer for a few minutes then add the chicken.
4] When the chicken are slightly tender add the potatoes.
5] Continue to cook until chicken and potatoes are tender.
6] Add the red bell pepper and simmer for an additional minute.
7] Salt and pepper to taste. Or you can use fish sauce instead of salt.
8] You can thicken the sauce with the bread crumbs.

Serve with hot jasmine rice. Enjoy your meal!