Authentic Chicken Afritada

I recently saw a recipe for Chicken Afritada on a Serious Eats website and was startled to see a can of Hunts Pork & Beans included in the list of ingredients. What the hey? Pork & Beans in Afritada? I don't think so. I have blogged about Afritada before, only it was Pork Afritada .

Now this time, lemme share my mom's Chicken Afritada recipe. And it does not have pork & beans in it.

Chicken Afritada Recipe



1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks 2X2 inch
2 potatoes, medium sized and cut into chunks
1 large bell pepper, cored & seeded, cut into strips
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, cut into chunks
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can of tomato paste
1/3 cup of soy sauce
5 tbsp vegetable oil
water
salt and pepper

1. In a large wok add the oil and heat until hot. Add the chicken pieces and fry until all the pieces get light-brown all over. Take out the chicken and set aside in a large bowl.
2. Add bell pepper slices and stir fy them for 5 minutes. Take them out and set aside.
3. Add the minced garlic and fry until golden brown. Add onion chunks and stirfry for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and stirfry for 5-7 minutes until the tomatoes are nice and soft.
4. Add tomato paste to the wok and stirfry for 5 minutes. No short cuts, you need to fry the tomatoe paste until it almost exudes oil on the pan. This is to make sure that the paste is thoroughly cooked before the meat is added back again.
5. Add the chicken back into the wok (plus the accumulated juices) and the carrots. Stir everything until all are coated with the red sauce. Add water until it covers the meat and ingredients completely. Add soysauce too. Bring to a boil.
6. When the sauce starts to boil, lower the heat so that it simmers. Cover the wok and let it simmer for 30 minutes. You would need to stir the contents every 7-10 minutes so that nothing sticks to the bottom.
7. Add the potato chunks and the bell pepper strips. By this time the sauce has reduced to almost half level. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are done. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve this, just put a couple of chicken pieces plus veggies on a plate beside a mound of rice. In my family, we usually have something like slices of cucumber to refresh the palate for every afritada bite. Pickled vegetables would also work as a side dish. Happy eating!