Chicken Cafreal

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`FLORENTINES’ is a restaurant in Goa located in a village called Salegaon which is not in the tourist belt i.e. it has no beach or hotels close by. This restaurant is famous for one and only one dish “Chicken Cafreal”. Considering the fact that 90% of the clientele are locals (Goans) each with their own secret family recipe, the cafreal that was served there had to be extraordinary and it is. I don’t know what the menu is now (haven’t been there for about 5 or 6 years) but back in the day, aside from Chicken Cafreal, all that was on offer was chicken / fish curry rice and French fries to nibble on while drinking feni or urak. The most amazing thing about FLORENTINES is that people would go there early to be sure of getting cafreal. By about 1 – 1.30 the supply would be exhausted. I believe the owners would marinate buckets of chicken legs in the night for lunch the next day and the same quantity or more early in the morning for dinner that night. Once what was marinated for that meal time was over that was it and you made do with curry and rice and, if you were lucky, some fried fish or prawns. While I cannot claim that this recipe is as great, it’s pretty good and, considering the fact that I stole it from my mother-in-law’s recipe book (me not being Goan), it’s a “secret” family recipe.

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, jointed into large pieces2 teaspoons khuskhus1 teaspoons jeera½ teaspoons peppercorns2 teaspoons coriander seeds½ teaspoons rai dal (skinned mustard seeds)½ teaspoons haldi powder1  teaspoon salt1 teaspoon sugar12 green chillies, deseeded10 flakes garlic1 ½ inch ginger200 grams fresh coriander (weigh with the stalks and then clean and wash)Juice of 2 sour limes or 2 tablespoons vinegar

Method 1 (Quick):

Grind the dry ingredients, then add the fresh ingredients and grind. Add the sour lime juice and as little water as possible.Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a vessel. When the oil is hot, add the ground masala and fry till it turns dark green.Add the chicken, stirring well until the pieces are all coated with masala.Add a little water. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked. (approx. 15 – 20 minutes)Check the salt and add more if required.Dry to a thick gravy on a fast fire and serve hot.

Method 2 (Traditional way):

Grind the masala as in the first method. Rub over the chicken pieces and marinate for at least 5 hours. (If the weather is hot, after 2 hours, put into the fridge.)Wipe the marinade off the chicken and reserve.Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a vessel. When the oil is hot, add the marinade and fry till it turns dark green.Add the chicken, stirring well until the pieces are all coated with the fried marinade.Add a little water. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked. (approx. 10 – 15 minutes)Check the salt and add more if required.Dry to a thick gravy on a fast fire and serve hot.

Useful Tips:

• You can also make it using ready Cafreal masala, though you would have to grind about 50 grams cleaned fresh coriander along with the store bought masala.

• To make it into a curry, finely chop 2 large onions and sauté till translucent before frying the masala / marinade. Coconut milk can also be added to make a different kind of curry.