African Chicken

Macanese Fusion·Medium·35 min active + 55 min resting

Galinha à africana — chicken marinated and roasted (or grilled) in a fiery piri-piri, peanut, and coconut sauce, a dish carried by the Portuguese from Mozambique and remade in Macau. The city's most famous fusion plate.

African chicken (galinha à africana) is a Macanese invention inspired by Portuguese Mozambique's piri-piri chicken, enriched with peanut and coconut — a three-continent fusion.

Bite African chicken and the skin is charred and lacquered in a thick, fiery, nutty red sauce, the meat juicy beneath. Bite: the piri-piri brings real heat, the ground peanut a rich, savory body, the coconut milk smoothing and rounding it, paprika and garlic deepening it. Fierce, rich, and unforgettable — the three-continent fusion that made Macau famous.

The sauce fuses three traditions: piri-piri (Portuguese Africa) for heat, ground peanut (West/East Africa) for body, and coconut milk (Asia) to round it. Marinating then roasting with the sauce lets it caramelize and lacquer the skin, basting keeping the chicken juicy.

Variations

Grilled over charcoal. Spicier. With more peanut (thicker). With a tomato note. With chouriço. Served spatchcocked.

On the Palate

Where African Chicken sits in the Macanese flavor cloud

Cook to learn

Marinate first, then roast with the sauce and baste — the peanut-coconut-piri-piri paste needs oven time to caramelize and lacquer the skin while the basting keeps the meat juicy.

Techniques

Roasting Marinating

Ingredients

Serves 4

8 piecesChicken

100 g groundPeanut

200 mlCoconut Milk

6 piri-piriChili Pepper

4 clovesGarlic

1 tbspPaprika

How it's made

8 steps · 35 min active + 55 min waiting

1
8 min
Make the sauce: blend piri-piri (bird's-eye) chili, garlic, paprika, ground peanuts, and coconut milk into a thick paste.
2
32 min
Marinate 8 chicken pieces in half the sauce 30 min (or longer).
3
8 min
Brown the chicken, then arrange in a roasting dish.
4
3 min
Coat with the remaining sauce.
5
35 min
Roast at 200°C for 35 min, basting, until the chicken is cooked and the sauce caramelizes.
Watch out
Baste and roast until the sauce darkens and lacquers the skin with sticky, caramelized patches and the juices run clear.
6
4 min
Optionally finish under the grill for char.
Watch out
If finishing under the grill, watch closely for the sauce to blister and char at the edges — it turns from lacquered to burnt fast.
7
2 min
Spoon over extra warmed sauce.
8
2 min
Serve with bread or rice to mop up.