Chicken Afritada with Pineapple

In Filipino cooking there is a variety of tomato based stews heavily influenced by Spanish Cuisine. Chicken Afritada is one of them, simply chicken stewed in tomato sauce with garlic, onion, and bell pepper, salt, pepper and whatever spices/ herbs the cook prefers. Pretty similar to the tomato Spaniard and Cuban tomato based dishes I grew up with, however I'm also familiar with the Filipino variations of those stews since one of my aunts through marriage is Filipino and so is one of my best girlfriends Shantall :) however their stews have their own twist and a little change here and there makes a difference in taste and makes them unique.

I've been meaning to try a version of Chicken Afritada prepared with pineapples, giving it a sweet and sour type contrast, kinda reminds me of the Chinese-American sweet n sour chicken or pork as well :)

So without further chit chat this is my version of the Pineapple Chicken Afritada from observing other's prepare it and what I think works best for it :)

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken cut into 12 pieces (washed/ cleaned well, drained)
-1 onion chopped
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 can 20 oz. of pineapple chunks (reserve juice)
-1/2- 1 cup pineapple juice (from a can of pineapple chunks)
-4 medium carrots peeled cut thinly diagonally
-1/2 a large red bell pepper cut into large squares
-1/2 a large green bell pepper cut into large squares

Directions:
(1) Season chicken with salt and pepper, marinade for 15- 20 minutes. Now heat a real large pan or deep-pot on very high heat, add oil and let it heat up, and brown chicken all over, if your using a smaller deep pan or pot you will need to do this in batches. Add garlic and onion and stir for about 5-7 minutes until onion is translucent
(2) Add tomato sauce, pineapple juice and bring to a rolling boil, cover and let it simmer 25 minutes on medium low heat.
(3) Uncover and add carrot bring to a rolling boil on high, cover then simmer again on medium low for 5 minutes, uncover add bell peppers let it simmer 2-3 minutes
(4) Add pineapple chunks stir well and let simmer an additional 1-2 minutes
(5) Enjoy serve with lots of hot steamy white rice :)
P.S.

For my Cuban readers or Spaniard readers we can think of this as "Fricase de Pollo con Piña" or "Estofado de Pollo Con Piña" give it a try :)