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.
Some few dishes out there in the world have the capability of enchanting and taking you to the core of a cultures heart and soul.
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.
The Portuguese brought this dish from Mozambique, an African country, which was a Portuguese colony until it gained it’s independence in the 70s, to Goa, India.
Goa was a Portuguese colony until the 60s as well, and the Portuguese were known to move local food ingredients and even food dishes from one continent to another.
Back then the Portuguese empire could count a few countries their own including Brazil, and countless islands in the Atlantic and in Asia such as Macao. The renaissance gave the Portuguese crown the boost to hire competent discoverers such as Vasco da Gamma, which resulted in a large Portuguese heritage.
So according to some locals, the chicken cafreal dish idea was inspired by the Mozambique culture and was introduced to Goa eventually. Goa added it’s own charm to it with it’s subcontinental spice roots 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.
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 sucking up the flavors, the better the result of the curry!
Also, 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 chicken with bones!
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 but you can serve it with plain rice or rotis too.
Chicken Cafreal – Goan Galinha Cafreal Recipe – How to make Chicken Cafreal below
- ½ big Onion
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste or store bought Ginger Garlic Paste
- 2 fresh green Chilies
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1 bunch fresh Coriander leaves
- ½ Teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
- Pinch Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Black Pepper powder
- 400 grams Chicken (I like to use boneless because of convenience but cafreal is better & flavorful with chicken thighs!)
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 small Onion chopped
- 50 milliliter Water
- Start by blending all the paste ingredient fine and smooth and keep aside.
- Rinse, clean and if you use boneless, cut the chicken into bite size strips. If you use thighs, make some cuts with a knife into the meat.
- 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 marinated long enough, take out a pan and fry the chopped onion translucent on low heat. Increase the heat and add in the chicken with the marination and cook the meat on both sides evenly for a few minutes, then add in water. Cook for about 10-15 minutes, till the chicken is cooked but not too dry on medium heat.
- Serve hot with rice or pao or poi bread.
Have you ever tried Chicken Cafreal before?
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wow, I don’t know Arwa at all. Shame on me because if you love her I know I will! I’m off!
Consider me about to go hopping 😀 Looks yummy and again, another thing from you today I’ve never heard of! 😀 I know you said you would change nothing, but can it be made with something other than chicken (or is that completely changing the essence of the dish, like “making a chocolate cake, but removing the chocolate and replacing with strawberries!)? I only ask because I’ve been a bit off chicken for the past few months… just can’t really face it at all!
As I said Charles, I wouldnt change a thing, not even the meet. Its the perfect combination of flavoures. I have never tried it though with other meat, I bet nobody has in goa. =)
I have tried it with beef and pork and it’s simply awesome.
thanks for your feedback Charlette!
This looks delicious, I love chicken dishes! Thanks for pointing me to a new food blog as well, I love finding new blogs to read!
Thanks for sharing Arwa’s blog with us and I’m off to check out now 🙂
Off to read your guest post 🙂
It sounds like a very interesting dish. Cognratulations on the guest post! I am hopping to Arwa’s blog.
It looks like a great chicken dish full of flavour. I’ll hop across to Arwa’s blog to find the recipe xx
Nice guest post Helene the chicken looks fantastic!
Thank you sharing Arwa’s site…the chicken sure looks flavorful.
Hope you are having a great week Helene 🙂
That looks promising! Heading over to La Mère Culinaire…
Cheers,
Rosa
Awesome ! thanks for introducing Arwas and her beautiful blog to me 🙂 heading over there to see the recipe
This is such an exotic take on chicken – how creative 😀
Thanks for introducing to us such a fantastic new blogger too!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com
I love trying out new spices on chicken, this looks yummy!
Hi Helene,
This looks like an amazing chicken dish. I cannot wait to try it.
Off to check your recipe!
Great guest post H! I’ve never made a cafreal myself but your recipe sure sounds like the one to try.
Ooh, I love your description of this ethereal dish! Can’t wait to try it!