Getting It Right

I love tomato based dishes and one of my favorite is Chicken Afritada. Ever since I've always wanted to learn how to cook this dish. Somehow, It took me quite sometime to actually get this dish right. Sometimes it would end up watery and grainy. I couldn't get the right amount of tomato sauce which sometimes lends a very sourish taste. Although  tomato sauce based dishes naturally taste sourish, i still prefer it to be a bit on the sweet side so I usually add sugar . But then again it doesn't lend the kind of sweetness that I'm looking for.  After a lot of re-tries and advises from friends I managed to finally settle on a recipe that I like. 

Instead of using green and red bell peppers, i replaced the green bell peppers with yellow bell peppers since the latter taste more sweeter and the flavor is bit milder. I find the flavor of green bell pepper overwhelming.




Chicken Afritada

Marinade :
1 kg chicken cut into serving size
1/4 cup light soy sauce
3/4 cup pineapple juice
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 small red bell pepper
1 small yellow bell pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp sugar
227 g ( 8 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup cubed carrots
1 cup cubed potatoes
green peas ( I omitted)
Salt ( I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt) and pepper to taste
Oil

Directions:

In a wok,heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Fry the red and yellow bell pepper just for a few minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add 2 more tbsp of olive oil and pan fry the chicken in batches. Remove from pan and set aside. Reserve the  liquid marinade ( discard the garlic).

In a casserole, saute the onion and garlic. Add in the chicken, tomato sauce, marinade, and sugar. Simmer until chicken is almost done. 

Add the carrots and potatoes. Continue cooking until chicken is done.

Season with salt and black pepper if desired. Add in the bell peppers and cover the pan. Turn off the heat.  

Serve with rice.