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5 recipes

ChhwelaGrilled chicken with mustard oil

Chhwela (also called choila) is a Newar dish from the Kathmandu Valley, served at festivals, feasts and family gatherings, and today in every bar and snack house as a spicy side. Meat is grilled until smoky, cut small and tossed with a dressing of spices and fenugreek seeds fried in smoking mustard oil, plus raw garlic, ginger, chilli, timur pepper and lime. Buffalo is traditional; this version uses chicken, and lean beef works too. It is high in protein and suitable as part of a balanced diet; eat it with a salad of cucumber and radish rather than a big pile of beaten rice. About 290 kcal and 5 g carbohydrate per portion. The usual mistake is pouring the mustard oil on before it smokes, which leaves a raw, harsh taste. Chef's tip: grill the meat until well charred at the edges, because the smokiness is the point.

45 minNepaliChickenGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Galinha à portuguesa (Portuguese chicken)

Puzzlingly, you will not find this in Portugal: galinha à portuguesa belongs to Macau, where cooks mixed a Portuguese idea of a creamy baked chicken with the turmeric, curry powder and coconut milk that came through the Portuguese trading routes from Goa and Malacca. Macanese restaurants and Hong Kong's cha chaan teng serve it bubbling in a clay pot or baking dish, golden on top, with chicken and potatoes in a mild, yellow, gently sweet coconut sauce, always with white rice to soak it up. It is a favourite for family dinners and Christmas tables. The thing people get wrong is boiling the coconut sauce hard, so it splits and turns oily; keep it at a gentle simmer. Chef's tip: brown the chicken well first, and finish under a hot grill for the speckled golden top that Macau restaurants are known for.

75 minMacaneseChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

African chicken (Macanese galinha africana)

Macau restaurants have served galinha africana since the 1940s, and the story most often told is that a hotel chef in the city created it from spices that Portuguese sailors brought back from Mozambique and Angola. Today it is a signature at Macanese and Portuguese restaurants from Taipa village to Coloane, eaten at long weekend lunches with rice or crusty bread. Chicken pieces are marinated, grilled until charred, then baked under a thick, brick-coloured sauce of ground peanuts, coconut milk, chilli, paprika, garlic and onion that is rich, nutty and quietly fiery. It is often made with a pale, timid sauce; cook the onion, garlic and paprika slowly until really deep red before the coconut goes in. Chef's tip: marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge so the garlic and chilli reach the bone.

75 minMacaneseChickenGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views

WachipaChicken and toasted rice

Among the Rai people of Khotang, Bhojpur and the eastern hills, wachipa is a dish of honour, cooked at Sakela and other festivals and for a returning family member: rice cooked together with finely chopped chicken, bones and all, and darkened with the ash of the bird's own feathers, which have been singed and ground. The ash gives a grey-black colour and a smoky, bitter edge that Rai elders say is the soul of the dish. Feather ash is not something we can recommend at home: shop-bought birds come without feathers, and burnt feathers are hard to make clean, gritty and not food-safe. This version gets a close smoky, toasty bitterness from rice that is dry-roasted until dark brown and ground, plus charred chicken skin. A common mistake is making it too wet; wachipa should be a sticky, moist rice, not a porridge. Chef's tip: chop the chicken by hand rather than buying mince, for the authentic coarse, chewy texture.

60 minNepaliChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChoilaSpiced grilled chicken

Choila belongs to the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley, where it is served at festivals like Dashain and at feasts in Bhaktapur and Patan, alongside beaten rice (chiura) and a glass of something strong. Traditionally it is water buffalo, grilled over straw so the meat tastes smoky, then tossed while warm with raw mustard oil, garlic, ginger, chilli and a sizzling fenugreek tempering. This version uses chicken thighs, with buffalo or beef as an option, and it is always fully cooked before tossing. Serve it as a starter or snack with chiura and pickled radish. Chef's tip: let the mustard-oil tempering smoke for a few seconds before pouring it over; the hot oil loses its raw bite and coats the meat with a nutty, pungent flavour.

45 minNepaliChickenGluten freeSpicy
by KrazyBadal 0 views