Chicken Mechado

Mechado is popular recipe in the Philippines when it comes to cooking meat. Chicken mechado is stewed in tomato sauce, soy sauce, bell pepper, potatoes, carrots, laurel leaf, onions and garlic cook over slow fire until the meat becomes tender. This results to flavorful and tender chicken meat and vegetables with rich brown sauce developed during the time of cooking.

If you use native chicken as your meat it will take you about 2-3 hours to soften the meat. But native chicken taste better than that regular poultry chicken we used to buy. The longer we cooked our meat the better because it brings out the flavor of the ingredients and makes the sauce even more richer.

Chicken Mechado Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken, cut into chunks
• 1 cup tomato sauce (or 5 pieces of ripened tomatoes – minced)
• 1 bulb big onion (quartered)
• 1 piece laurel leaf
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 pieces bell pepper (red and/or green)
• 2 pieces- medium size potatoes (quartered)
• 1 piece carrot (cut to about 1 inch)
• 1-2 cups water
• Fish sauce (patis) for seasoning

Cooking Procedure:

1. In a wok, saute garlic and onions.
2. Add chicken and stir fry until its color change to slightly brown.
3. Add water (just enough to cover the chicken), tomato sauce, soy sauce, laurel leaf, bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, and black peppers. Bring to boil then lower the fire and simmer for at least 20~30 minutes or until the meat becomes tender. No need to add additional water if there are already enough build up of oil from chicken fats. Cover the pan during cooking.
4. Finally, make a taste test. Add patis seasoning if necessary
5. Serve while still hot.

Source: filipinofoodrecipes.org