Chicken Cafreal is a freshly prepared spicy green goan curry.
Also known as Galinha Cafreal, the chicken curry is well known and quite popular in the sunny Indian coastline state.
Learn how to make chicken cafreal from scratch with the step-by-step recipe below.
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What is Chicken Cafreal?
Chicken Cafreal is a well-known spiced chicken dish from Goa, India. A green spiced paste is prepared with cilantro to infuse the chicken.
Some few dishes out there in the world have the capability of enchanting and taking you to the core of the heart and soul of a culture. Chicken Cafreal is one of those dishes!
It's a rich, traditional, brilliant Goan Portugues chicken curry, which is also known as galinha cafreal. Galinha is Portuguese and means chicken.
How to make Chicken Cafreal?
Chicken Cafreal is easy to make at home. The green curry can be either dry or with lots of gravy.
The base ingredients are fresh coriander, onion, spices, and lemon juice.
You should prepare the paste first, give your chicken some cuts and let the clean chicken marinate in the cafreal paste for as long as possible.
The longer you keep the poultry meat taking in the flavors, the better the result of the curry!
Furthermore, I do use boneless chicken because I am a lazy European, however proper chicken cafreal is always made with chicken thighs and basically with chicken meat on the bone.
The idea is that the bone gives the curry another deep flavor. So I recommend using bone-in chicken cuts such as legs, thighs, or drumsticks.
You can adjust the heat in this chicken cafreal recipe by using more or less green chilies.
If you like your curry super hot, add 1-2 more chilies in the paste making process.
We eat chicken cafreal mostly with pao or poi bread, both local bread varieties, but you can serve it with plain rice or rotis too.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Cafreal Recipe
Ingredients
For the paste:
- ½ large Onion
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic chopped or paste
- 2 Green Chili Pepper
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 bunch Cilantro Fresh
- 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- pinch Salt
To cook:
- 17.6 ounces Chicken boneless or bone-in
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 small Onion chopped
- ¼ cup Water
Instructions
- Start by blending all the paste ingredient fine and smooth and keep aside.½ large Onion, 1 Tablespoon Ginger + Garlic, 2 Green Chili Pepper, 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds Ground, 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds Ground, ½ Teaspoon Garam Masala, 1 bunch Cilantro Fresh, 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice, ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, pinch Salt
- Rinse, and pat dry chicken you use boneless chicken. Cut the chicken into bite size strips. If you use thighs or drumsticks, make some cuts with a knife into the meat.17.6 ounces Chicken
- Massage the paste into the chicken and marinate the chicken covered in paste for 1 hour. (The longer you keep it marinated the better, I usually keep it for some hours for the best result)
- Once the chicken has marinated long enough, take out a pan and pour in your oil. Sauté the chopped onion translucent over a medium-low heat setting.2 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 small Onion
- Increase the heat and add in the chicken with the marination and sear the meat on both sides evenly for a few minutes, then add in water.¼ cup Water
- Cook for about 10–15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked but not too dry, over a medium heat. If you need to add a few tablespoon more water to make it more like a gravy, you can do so.
- Serve hot with rice, roti flatbread or Goan pao or poi bread.
Notes
- Traditional Cafreal calls for bone-in chicken, such as chicken thighs and drumsticks.
- You can add in some more water to turn the marination paste into a gravy curry.
Nutrition
History
The Portuguese brought this dish from Mozambique, an African country, which was a Portuguese colony, to Goa.
Goa was also a Portuguese colony until the 60s, and the Portuguese were known to move local food ingredients and even food dishes from one continent to another.
Back then, the Portuguese empire consisted of Brazil, and countless islands in the Atlantic and in Asia, such as Macao.
The colonial renaissance exploitation gave Portugal the power to hire discoverers such as Vasco da Gamma, which took over land by force, converting areas and making them part of the Portuguese heritage.
Natives in Goa say that the chicken Cafreal dish was inspired by the Mozambique culture and was introduced to Goa at some point in the past 500 years during Portuguese rule.
Goa added its charm to it with its subcontinental spices and the chicken cafreal, as we know it, was born!
Turns out, chicken cafreal is a hit in Goa and the world. It's one of the main dishes, which you can find in takeaways and some food “bhaji” shops in Goa.
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