Chicken Afritada (Tomato Base Braised Chicken)

If there’s one Filipino food I love that is tomato based, it’s chicken afritada.  It’s a simple, comforting dish cooked by stewing chicken in a tomato based sauce.  I absolutely love it.  It has a nice savoury taste to it – a bit sour, sweet and salty. This dish can also be made with pork although the more popular version is chicken.

Ingredients

1kg chicken thigh fillets

3 skinless hot dogs/frankfurts (cut diagonally in small pieces)

1 whole onion (roughly chopped)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

3 bay leaves

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp sugar

140g tomato paste (I did not use all of it)

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 medium carrots (chopped)

4-5 medium potatoes (quartered lenghthwise)

1 whole red capsicum (roughly chopped)

1 cup of frozen peas

salt (optional)

oil for frying

Method

In a hot large pot or large heavy pan, heat oil and lightly brown the chicken.  Set chicken aside once done.  In the same pot/pan, sautee the garlic and onions.  Once onions have become transparent, add the hot dogs and fry until browned.  Add all the chicken back in the pot/pan and quickly mix through.  Throw in the bay leaves, pepper and sugar. Quickly mix through then add the tomato paste and chicken stock.  Mix then cover with lid.  Lower the heat to medium then leave for about 10 minutes.  Add the potatoes and carrots and then give them a mix and once again, leave covered for another 5-8 minutes or until the potatoes are soft (not mashed).  Lower the heat to medium to low and then add to the mix the capsicums and peas and leave for about 5 minutes.  Season with salt (optional – as chicken stock already adds a bit of salt into the dish).

Turn off heat and serve with steamed rice.

The potatoes thicken the sauce, thus making for a yummy, tasty sauce and flavoursome potatoes.

Have a great weekend folks and happy eating!

MJ