Cafriela de Galinha — Print Recipe

Chicken pieces marinated in a blazing garlic-lime-pepper paste, grilled over charcoal until charred, then served with crispy cassava fries — Guinea-Bissau national dish.

Ingredients

1.5kg chicken pieces
8 cloves garlic, crushed
Juice of 5 limes
6 bird-eye peppers, crushed
2 large onions, sliced into rings
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
500g cassava, peeled and cut into fries
Oil for deep frying

Instructions

1 Pound garlic, bird-eye peppers, and salt into a thick paste.
2 Mix paste with lime juice and oil. Coat chicken pieces thoroughly. Marinate for 1 hour minimum.
3 Prepare charcoal grill with hot coals.
4 Grill chicken for 30-35 minutes, turning regularly and basting with marinade until charred and cooked through.
5 While chicken grills, boil cassava fries for 10 minutes until just tender. Drain and dry.
6 Deep fry cassava fries at 180°C until golden and crispy, about 5 minutes.
7 Serve chicken topped with raw onion rings alongside cassava fries.

Did You Know?

Cafriela is so central to Guinea-Bissauan identity that ordering it abroad is considered an instant test of whether a restaurant truly knows Bissau-Guinean food.