Chicken Afritada Curry Surprise!

Apparently the idiom, too many cooks spoil the broth, is true. In this case there were just two. I was supposed to cook Chicken Afritada and went through the motions of preparing everything. I was nearly done, and was just simmering the pot when I decided to enter my room to sit out the five minutes of waiting in there when another housemate comes in to the kitchen, opens the pot, gets a whiff of the tomato and chicken broth, and next thing you know we were eating some malevolent form of curry.

The basic afritada recipe is simple: For every kilo of chicken, you would need about 1/4 kilo of peeled potatoes, 1 medium onion, 8-10 cloves of minced garlic, 1 red bell pepper, a medium carrot, about 1 and 1/2 cups of water, and 250 ml of tomato sauce. In a big pot, heat about two tablespoons of vegetable oil and saute the onions and garlic before adding the chicken. It would be best to use a whole chicken that's been cut into serving portions. I used diced skinless chicken breasts for this one and it turned out ok. Add the water once the chicken turns white to light brown, bring it to a boil and allow to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. You can also use chicken stock for more of that brothy chicken taste. Add the tomato sauce, potatoes and carrots, and let it simmer again for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the bell pepper, and season with salt, pepper and fish sauce.

That was supposed to be afritada. But since it was lavished with a handfull of mushrooms, a generous dose of curry powder, coconut milk, lime, chili, parsely and cinnamon, we had to say goodbye to the afritada.

Fortunately, this proved to be a wonderful surprise! Hence the name: Chicken Afritada Curry Surprise! And another thing to laugh about in the house where constant renegotiations about taste and culture are apparent. Of course they don't call it that name, they call it Philippine Curry.