Chicken Afritada: A Karinderia Moment

When I was younger, I have thought of a lot of careers - I wanted to be a doctor, a pilot, a stewardess, an architect, a painter/ an artist and a showbiz superstar. Later on, I wanted to become a chef. During my time in college, taking up Culinary Arts was the latest craze... only to find out that the course of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management (in my school) required 2 College Algebra subjects, 2 or 3 Accounting subjects and another term for practicum, aside from the humongous amount of tuition fee.

Huwag nalang! (never mind!)

With that, I decided to take Human Resources Management. I said to myself anyway, I can still continue cooking even without a degree in culinary. The dream to be called Chef Jam flew in the air and now in the milkyway. OK lang. Promise!

Well, if I did pursue culinary, I might have not met my darling hubby and not have our little J, right? Aww, destiny! :) HAHAHA!

Cheesy aside... Since I find extreme joy in cooking, and despite that I do not have the toque... Still, I really want to have a food business. Not a fancy resto but Karinderia or a Canteen that serves the masses. I would partner with my Mommy Tess, Ate Jeng or my friend Sheila who are all great cooks! We just need to save up for a capital, and a good good place for it.

What do Pinoy canteens/karinderias serve? Easy. Pinoy Comfort Food! What else, right?

So let me then share with you another favorite in our household: Chicken Afritada

I play with the name by sometimes calling it Chicken Africhado (chado, from Mechado), Chicken Caldechado (Caldereta and Mechado) Chicken Caldetada (Caldereta and Afritada) because they taste so close to each other! I realized this after reading Bob Ong's ABNKKBSNPLAKO)

For this dish, I used:

canola oil
1 small onion, minced
about 1 tsp of garlic, minced
1/2 kilo of chicken, cut in serving pieces
3 medium sized potatoes, cut in quarters
1 big carrot sliced in bite size pieces
Fish Sauce to taste (careful with the Salt!)
Pepper to taste
1 250 grams pack of tomato sauce
about 1/4 tsp of brown sugar to taste (optional)
about 1/2 cup of grated cheese (Eden MeltSarap)
1 tbsp of McCormick Caldereta Mix (optional)
1 cup of water/chicken stock/rice wash (hugas bigas)
about 1/4 cup of green peas
1 Red Bell Pepper sliced in strips


The Way:

On Medium to Low heat, sauté onions and garlic in canola oil. Throw in the chicken and wait until it becomes a little brown in color, the chicken will release its own juice while you are frying it. Then add the potatoes and carrots. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then season with fish sauce and pepper, pour the tomato sauce, add sugar (optional), add the cheese, a tablespoon of caldereta mix and 1 cup of water/chicken stock/rice wash. you may want to add water little by little if you want a thick consistency. Taste your afritada once in a while so that you can decide whether or not it already suits your palette. I like my afritada with a thick sauce (aka ma-sarsa). Lastly, add the green peas and bell pepper and simmer for more or less 3 minutes to avoid the bell pepper to overcook.

You might want to garnish it with cheese just before serving. :)


'Till my next Karinderia entry :-)