A dressed-up adobo

In years past, a foreign chef, new in the Philippines, tagged our  cuisine as “ethnic.” What he was seeing were dishes with no color, nor perhaps the international character of being decorative as well as savory.

Indeed, like our adobo which is always either white – when cooked with white vinegar – or brown when done with soy sauce, or yellow as the Batangueños do it with luyang dilaw (turmeric). Nevertheless, the Filipino adobo, which some sources say originated  from Mexico, has remained our de facto national dish.

From our forebears, we learned a recipe which can be referred to as dressed-up adobo, making it picture-pretty and giving it a unique flavor and texture. Our Spanish-speaking friend told us they use either pork or chicken in a recipe they call fritata. They refer to this as a stew with lots of tomatoes, onions and red capsicum added to the meats.

Our late mother taught us a recipe for afritada, no doubt a spin off from the Spanish original. As with the former, this is a double-cook dish. We would like to share Inay’s recipe with our fellow homecooks.

Afritada or Dressed-up Adobo

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken about 1.5 kgs, cleaned and cut into serving pieces, or

1 ½ kilo pork, combination of liempo and kasim, cut into serving pieces

1/3 cup vinegar

1 ½ heads of native garlic, crushed, divide into 2 portions

Salt and pepper, plus a few peppercorns

Two whole tomatoes, take away the seeds and cut into strips

One onion, cut lengthwise

One red capsicum, cut into strips

One big potato, cut into small wedges and fried

One tablespoon patis

Two tablespoons evaporated milk

Oil for sautéing        

Procedure:  

Cook the first eight ingredients as adobo. Do not stir until it comes to a full boil. Reduce the liquid. When meat is tender, set aside.         

In a casserole, sauté in a little oil the second portion of the garlic, tomatoes and onion. Add to the pork and chicken and put the pot back on the fire. Add the patis and cover for a few minutes, for the seasoning to be sealed; let simmer for a while. Then add potatoes and capsicum.

When nearly done, add the peppercorns and the milk. Mix well and continue to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, be careful not to let the milk curdle.

To serve, put the afritada in a pyrex dish and be sure the tomatoes, potatoes and capsicum form a decorative circle around the pork or chicken.

There you are – a picture-pretty and delicious Sunday dish.

Happy eating!

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