Galinha à Africana – African Chicken from Macau

Folks, today I don’t have any mundane things to rant about apart from this amazing dish that Roshan cooked for our Sunday meal. Early Sunday morning he popped the question which always sounds like music to my ears. Nah! It’s not ‘will you marry me’ – he said that years ago. It’s the more enchanting “Shall I cook something special today?”. I gave him the “Neki aur pooch pooch?” look(in Hindi that roughly translates to ‘don’t ask for permission when you want to do a good deed’). Well, I handed over the kitchen to him and vanished till noon time.

I knew he had mentioned about the African Chicken to me sometime ago, but it never really registered in my mind. The one he particularly loved is the version made in Henri’s Galley in Macau, an hour away from Hong Kong. Although I’ve been to Macau myself, I never got the opportunity to visit this place and taste its famous dish. The original recipe they say was never disclosed by the chef, Americo Agnelo who created it in the 1940s. Mr. Agnelo worked in a small hotel called Pousada de Macau and legend has it that although this dish is said to have evolved over the centuries by Portuguese soldiers who visited Macau from stations in Africa such as Mozambique, it was Mr. Agnelo who put together what stands out as an ‘original’ among today’s ‘almost original’ attempts.

Since it was a dish purely created in a restaurant, it has not been passed down from one generation to the other as a family tradition. It is said that Mr. Agnelo jealously guarded his secret recipe and did not as much let anyone watch him cook the dish apart from letting a junior chef pick up a special blend of spices from a local Chinese store. Unfortunately, when Mr. Agnelo fell grievously ill and knew that his time on earth was up he began to share the recipe in bits and pieces with his staff after which several attempts were made to recreate the dish. However, attempts remained just attempts with their creation not being even close to the original.

What I truly liked about the dish was its amazing flavour that permeates the meat after the baking is done. When I tasted the sauce as it was boiling, it had a dominating flavour of peanuts which I felt was okay, however, the chicken underwent miraculous transformation when it reappeared out of the oven. A slightly blackened surface with a beautiful thick sauce that was bubbling over was what greeted me. A couple of large potatoes that were perfectly baked proved to be a great accompaniment to the very succulent & flavourful chicken. We threw in a few slices of multi grain bread and our meal was complete and satisfying.

This was fusion food at its best, what with several flavours borrowed from different cuisines – almost every place ruled by the Portuguese lent its own trademark flavour to this dish. Portugal (smoked paprika), Africa (peanuts), India (coconut) and China (five-spice). The sauce has a fine balance of creamy sweetness brought in by the peanuts and coconut, delicate spice from the paprika and aromas from each of the five spices – I particularly liked the very subtle aroma and flavour of the star anise.

Today, African Chicken is served on the menu of almost every Macanese restaurant with the best version (according to Roshan) served at Henri’s Galley. If I ever visit Macau again I will not leave the place till I’ve tasted some Galinha à Africana there. Don’t miss your opportunity if you get one!

This dish is an adaptation from many sources of recipes guided by Roshan’s fine sense of taste.