Goan-Style Chicken Moelho
There is a whole family of Goan meat and chicken dishes that have in common the use of garlic, vinegar, and hot chilies—all of which help preserve the food and give it a slightly “pickled” feel. As in the case of the more famous vindaloos, the garlic and vinegar combination probably came from Portuguese culinary traditions—Goa was their colony for four hundred years or so. It was the Portuguese who introduced chilies to India in the late fifteenth century. Indians, already familiar with their own black pepper, took to them with a passion. The chilies used in Goa are often of the Kashmiri variety, which give off a very red color but are of medium heat. Each dish requires rather a lot of them and ends up being very hot and very red. I have used a mixture of cayenne and paprika. You can add more cayenne if you like. In Goa this is eaten with partially milled red-hulled rice. You could serve it with Plain Brown Rice, Plain Jasmine Rice, or Coconut Rice. Add vegetables and salads.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 3¿4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Put the cumin seeds and mustard seeds into the container of a clean coffee grinder and grind finely.
Step 2
Put the chicken in a nonreactive bowl along with the cumin-mustard mixture, cayenne, paprika, turmeric, salt, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and the garlic. Mix well with your hands, cover, and set aside for 1–2 hours, refrigerating if needed.
Step 3
Pour the oil into a large, preferably nonstick frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the onions. Stir and fry until the onions turn translucent, about 4–5 minutes. Keep stirring and frying another 2 minutes or until the onions brown a bit. Now add all the marinated chicken. Stir and fry another 7–8 minutes or until the chicken turns opaque and browns a bit. Add 1/2 cup water and another 2 teaspoons vinegar. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low, and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Check the salt, adding more if needed.
