#101_ Afritada

Pork Afritada

Afritada is one of several tomato based dishes
enjoyed by many Filipinos.
It is one of the dishes influenced by Spanish cuisine.
It can either be pork or chicken, very simple to make
and it is one of my favorite dishes. I'm glad I learned to make this dish from my dear mother when she came here in the US.

Ingredients:
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
Canola oil
1 med. size onion, chopped
2 med. size ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 lbs. pork loin, cubed
1 cup water
5-6 med. potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 bay leaves
2 cups frozen peas & carrots
1/2 of red bell pepper, sliced
salt and pepper

Start off by sauteing the garlic, onion, and tomatoes in
canola oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
Add the pork and the bay leaves.
Turn down heat to medium and continue to saute,
stirring occasionally until the meat renders juice or fat.
Season with salt and pepper.
Put lid on and keep it covered for about 10 minutes.
Gradually add the water and bring to boil.
Turn down the heat, keeping lid on and simmer,
stirring occasionally,
until meat is tender adding more water when necessary.
Add the potatoes and return the lid on.
Turn up the heat to medium
and continue to simmer until potatoes are almost tender
then add the peas and carrots and the red bell pepper.
Cook until potatoes are fork tender.
Serve hot over rice.

The red bell pepper has been in the freezer since Fall (Oct.)
I bought several of them when they were on sale, sliced them up,
divided them up in small portions and stored them
plastic bags in the freezer.
So when a recipe calls for red bell pepper, I have some ready.
You don't need to thaw them out, just throw them
in the skillet in frozen stage.

Same thing with tomatoes.
At the end of summer when tomatoes are plentiful
I usually prep and freeze them, click here,

so I have some ready when a recipe calls for

the holy trinity of sauteing, meaning, garlic, onion and tomatoes.

Notes from MaMely:
1) Fresh vegetables are great but using frozen peas & carrots
is a super time saver specially dicing carrots.
You don't need to thaw them out before adding in to the mixture.
2) The measurements given above are just for guidelines.
This is one of those dishes that I just eyeball when I make it.
You can't really go wrong with this dish. Just guesstimate the ingredients.