Chicken Cafreal Recipe (2024)

Thanks for this recipe, which looks spectacular - big, bright, flesh flavors - perfect for a winter dinner (or dinner any time of the year). I will definitely make this over these holidays.One question: what is the advantage of sautéing the chicken on the stovetop versus roasting the chicken after you have sautéed the onions in Step 6?

Tip - put some chicken stock or water in the bottom of your blender FIRST, then add your other ingredients. Having made the mistake of putting the entire bunch of cilantro in first (too dry, even with the added liquid mentioned in the recipe), I will hereafter put it in LAST, so that it moves to the bottom AFTER the blades have done their work on the onions, ginger, and many cloves of garlic.

Just cooked this. Turned out quite good, and the recipe instructions are on the money, although I would blend the various seeds in a coffee blender to bring them before blending everything including cilantro in a bigger blender. I think what’s missing is a sauce as a topper. We made an Indian sauce:.25 cup cilantro chopped.25 cup green onion choppedJuice of 1 lime1 cup mayo or plain yogurt Added a great complement to the flavour that f the chicken!

Note that while the Time required includes about 1 hour to cook things and 1-2 hours to marinate, it can take you 30-45 minutes to prepare the marinade itself, depending on how many things you have to chop, peel (many, many garlic cloves), squeeze and pulse in the blender. You can measure out all your dry spices well in advance, so that you just drop them into the blender (vs taking out, measuring, dropping in, and putting back in the cupboard) - but only if you know in advance to do that.

Maybe everyone already knows this, but you can save a lot of time by breaking the head of garlic apart, and then soaking the cloves in very hot water for 5 minutes or so--the skins will slip off very easily.

I think an Instant Pot would work great for this.

My son and husband really enjoyed the chicken. Potatoes were perfect. Next time, I agree to add some liquid prior to blending. Also, I had to cut my onion into smaller chunks. My Cuisinart blender could not handle the quarter chunks.

Fabulous! And surprisingly easy. Key tips from other cooks—grind seeds and peppercorns first before adding to food processor. Add a T of broth. I say use a big bunch of cilantro, which I did. It’s vivid green coming off the stove then darkens. I cooked thighs at med-low for first 20 minutes, stirring often as it braised, then kicked up heat to evaporate remaining liquid. A bite of potato plus a bite of saucy chicken together — bliss.

I'm one of those cilantro haters too. Even the smell of it will make me nauseous. Flat-leaf parsley has been my substitute for years. As you probably know, the powers that be are now quite sure that the cilantro aversion has a genetic cause.

In Mozambique Frango à cafreal is barbecued (much in the way of jerk chicken in the Caribbean) or roasted, and does not use cilantro in the marinade. Using beautiful cilantro as well as cooking the dish in a pan is the Indian variation.I am not skilled enough to tell you what oven-baking might do to the delicate flavor of the cilantro (leaves of coriander plant) in the Goan/Indian version. Do let us know if that works for you.

You really do need to grind the whole spices (coriander, peppercorns, cloves, fennel seeds) separately before blending it all, as they don't end up ground by the blending of the whole and become unsettling little surprises as you eat. Otherwise, the flavor of this is spot on.

Unfortunately, I'm one of those souls for whom a bite of cilantro tastes like the Lifebuoy in Ralphie's mouth. My plan would be to substitute flat-leaf Italian parsley. Haven't tried it yet, though...does anyone see any reason not to?

Love this!

This was one of my favorite dishes I've cooked from NYT in a while. The flavors were intense and reminded me of chicken I'd had in India. I was able to blend everything together at once, as the recipe suggests, but others felt the spices should be blended first. Also, do put some water in the bottom of the blender. Loved the comment of making a yogurt sauce to go with this!

Do you just serve this with rice?

Jos absolutely loved this

Marinading chicken for 1-2 hours adds so little (see Kenji's test), and then sautéing the chicken will burn the spice and herb mixture. Instead, I toasted the spices, then used the spice grinder. Did the cilantro, pepper, garlic and ginger in the blender with some juice. Cut boneless thighs into pieces, then sautéed and removed. Sweated both onions in the pan, added the spices to temper, then the herb mix. Cooked for ~5 minutes, then added back the chicken with its juices. Delicious!

#1 use Indian/ Thai chilies for authenticity #2 cut out the backbone , cook whole and flat #3 make sure the chicken is room temp before roasting #4 cook at 450 covered 20 minutes, uncover and finish for 20 minutes. This will preserve the beautiful green color.#4 thank me later

2x (qty 4 -5) the potatoes is better to have some w each bite of chicken

I thought the meat was bland until I added a bit of salt and the flavor just popped. Wow! But I don't understand how you can cook this on medium high for 30--40 min. without burning anything, no matter how much you stir. I have a good layer of burnt sauce on the bottom of my skillet and finally took things off the heat at about 20 min. Also marinaded and cooked some tofu as an experiment --- not so good. You need the flavor of the meat.

Used bone-in chicken and took longer than expected, so the potatoes were done for almost a half-hour. That was fine- they were tented in the oven and still tasted crisp and delicious. But I would suggest getting the chicken started cooking first before throwing the spuds in the oven.

Subbed flat parsley for cilantro to respect an aversion; equally delicious. Moist couscous goes well in place of potatoes, complements the dry sauce.

I made this last night. Used 1 full seeded Hatch chile and it was way too hot, so I added more lime than was called for and some lemon juice as well and succeeded in mellowing things out a bit. However, as a result, the marinade was more wet than dry. Still turned out bright and delicious and will make it again soon.

As tasty as this dish is with all the various spices, it really did a number on the digestive system. The flavors are wonderful and actually quite subtle....perhaps it's just the combination? Anyway, I would scrape off as much of the marinade/sauce as possible and don't indulge in it as tempting as it is. I enjoy Indian cuisine quite a lot but have never experienced something as uniquely discomforting. Co-diners had same experience.

My blender couldn't begin to process the marinade,had to add a lot more water. This led to longer cooking time. Chicken was simmered in the sauce, so never browned. Became tender but sort of an ugly green mush. Flavor was ok.

So, so delicious. When I make it again, I will skip the potatoes and serve with rice instead.

Made this tonight, with boneless skinless thighs. The liquid in the recipe was not nearly enough to get things blended. Had to add more. That made for a thick, bright green marinade that was rather wet. When time to cook, the marinade was even wetter. Cooked for the recipe time but came nowhere near getting a dry sauce. The sauce was still very wet, although thick. I honestly don't see how you can get the dish to look like the photo and still be edible. 3 stars for flavor. 0 stars for recipe.