CHICKEN ASADO

Last Saturday, March 30, my son Harold and his family Lenlen and kids Raizen and Reiyumi came for a visit at our home. I was at a loss on what to serve them because I want to cook something new that they haven't tasted yet which they will remember for a long time. So I thought of whipping up Chicken Asado or "Asadong Manok". This dish is not your usual kind of beef or pork asado which is sweeter in taste and just as reddish brown in color. This explanation I got from the internet and it says, "The recipe calls for the use of tomato sauce. In fact it is similar to chicken afritada. Cooking is fairly simple except for the frying of the marinated chicken and sautéing part everything is just stewing until done...because of the similarity with afritada it is most of the time mistaken as afritada. Chicken asado is more of a brownish red in color because of the use of more soy sauce. Chicken afritada is more of reddish orange color."   

The first time I cooked this dish was two years ago when I was looking for an alternative to the usual chicken dish like tinola, nilaga, afritada, adobo and the never ending taste of the fried chicken from the popular food chains in the country. When I looked at the recipe I was a bit puzzled at first, because I could not find any thing that could sweeten the dish (actually I got the explanation above from later research into the chicken asado recipe from various internet sites). The good thing about it was after cooking the dish and tasting the result I could highly recommend it as an alternative chicken dish that one can easily cook at home. 

When I asked my grand-daughter Reiyumi if she liked the chicken she just said, "That's why I'm eating it". She is a very picky eater and if she doesn't want the food she won't go beyond a mouthfull of it, but she enjoyed and ate heartily of the asadong manok which I prepared for the family, so is her brother Raizen.

INGREDIENTS:


1 k. chicken cut into serving pieces
¼ cup kalamansi juice
¼ cup soy sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
2 medium size onion (chopped)
½ head garlic (minced)
4 potatoes, quartered
3 pc. bay leaf
1.2 teaspoon spanish paprika (optional)
1 can pineapple tidbits (optional) 
salt and pepper
cooking oil
2-3 cups of chicken stock or water 

PROCEDURES:


1. In a bowl marinate chicken with kalamansi, soy sauce, salt and pepper for 10-20 minutes before cooking. 
 2. In a sauce pan fry chicken for 3-5 minutes or until colour turn to golden brown in batches. Remove from pan, set aside. 
3. In same sauce pan sauté garlic and onion, add in chicken, stir fry for 2-3 minutes, Add tomato sauce, paprika and bay leaf, stir cook for 1-2 minutes. 
4. Pour in 2-3 cups of water and simmer for 10-15 minutes. 
5. Add in potato and pineapple tidbits (optional) then simmer for another 5-10 minutes or until chicken and potato are cooked and tender. Serve hot.

As you can see I added some optional ingredients to the dish like Spanish paprika which I like to use sparingly in my dish specially when it involves tomato paste or sauce except on spaghetti. Another one is the pineapple tidbits, you see in my childhood I wouldn't even think of eating adobo with pineapple tidbits. Because as I believed then pineapples are for dessert.

 HAPPY EATING!!!