Goan Chicken Cafreal

Where everyone in India is celebrating the arrival of winter... in Abidjan, I am mourning on the increasing heat and praying for a heavy fully forged rain that will drop the temperature in just one blow. But alas....my prayers are not helping and everyone here is suffering the sweaty hot weather that resembles so much with the Indian summer in the midway of its course. Two of my cats have developed rashes due to the increasing temperature and they are in no way ready to leave my bedroom, even in the night.

Standing in front of the open flame of the oven is a sheer pain now, but still I am cooking. Because I really don’t know what other work can keep me going other than my cooking. Because when everything fails, and you don’t know what will happen next and you have a miserable day you have passed and another one is coming right away, one thing is sure that two cups of rice makes 2 cups of perfect fluffy and non-sticky rice, where the butter melts and with some salt and chillies and crispy fried fish they make a heavenly lunch...which you will relish even after the meal is finished.

My lunch has been that simple now. But when friends come and you have a chat that is not something which goes down with the “adda”. So I made Chicken Cafreal. It’s a Goan fried chicken dish, which is also an excellent appetizer because of the sourness added from the tamarind pulp and the hot buzz from the peppercorns and green chillies. Besides Chicken Cafreal has coriander leaves as a main ingredient which spikes up anything with its fresh soothing flavours. You can also make it gravy by adding some water in the end. And that goes well with the rice because you need some gravy to mop up your grains. J

Goan Chicken Cafreal

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

700gm chicken (on bone, drumsticks will be perfect for cafreal)

2 cups of fresh coriander leaves

10-12 green chillies (reduce if you can’t handle that much heat)

1 tbsp black peppercorns

2 tsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

6-8 garlic cloves

1 inch stick of ginger

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 small cinnamon stick

3 green cardamoms

3 cloves

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt

½ cup oil

Method:

In a pan heat 1 tsp oil and add in the cumin seeds, black peppercorns, poppy seeds, green chillies, garlic, ginger and fresh coriander leaves.

Sauté on medium heat for 2-3 minutes and then put off the flame.

Transfer the entire thing to a grinder and add in the tamarind pulp, lemon juice and salt.

Grind them to a fine paste.

Then add in some salt, turmeric powder and 2 tsp oil into the paste. Mix to incorporate everything.

Take all the chicken pieces into a bowl and pour in the prepared paste over the pieces of chicken.

Rub the paste well over the chicken pieces so that each of them gets a good coating and then let them marinate for 4 hours at least or overnight if possible. Marinating the chicken for good time is important because the chicken will be fried and therefore it needs to be soft to be cooked quickly.

Once the marinade is done, take a tawa and heat the rest of the oil in it.

When the oil is hot enough, put the flame on low to medium and put the chicken pieces on the tawa / pan one by one, with their one side touching the surface of the tawa. Keep some space between the chicken pieces and do not overcrowd the cooking vessel.

Put cover and cook the chicken for 3 minutes. Then uncover and flip them over. Put cover again let them cook.

After 3 minutes take the lid off again and flip the chicken pieces over again. Now pour in the rest of the marinating paste over them and keep cooking. Before flipping the chicken make sure that the side of the chicken which was on the tawa is brown enough.

Keep a watchful eye over the tawa / pan that the pan is not turning too much dry to burn the chicken. In that case add a little oil or water.

Cook until the chicken is completely cooked and they are soft from inside. If you have marinated the chicken well then the chicken should be cooked within 15 – 20 minutes.

If you want gravy add some water in the end and simmer until the desired consistency is achieved. 

Once done, sprinkle some sliced onions, chopped green chillies, and chopped coriander leaves over them and serve hot with roti / chapatti / rice or just some green salad.