Butternut Squash Cafreal Curry with Caramelised Onions

One day, I read this butternut squash cafreal recipe in a book called ‘Fresh India’. What convinced me to try it out was:

1. The sauce is quick and easy to make
2. Less spices are required (meaning simpler to cook!)
3. It’s colourful!

However, I didn’t know what is cafreal so I looked it up AFTER I cooked.

Cafreal is a chicken dish in Goa, India. It inhibited from Portuguese when Goa was a colony of Portugal.

But what does cafreal actually mean? Some say it means ‘in the way of Cafres’ in Portuguese. And Cafres are the inhabitants in somewhere in Africa.

But anyway, it doesn’t matter now.

Just remember it’s a popular chicken dish in Goa. It looks like this.

Normally, cafreal doesn’t require coconut milk. Yet in our version, we used a whole tin of coconut milk. So, it’s kind of mild and creamy.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 1 kg butternut squash, peeled and deseeded
• 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
• Cafreal sauce
  • 4 cloves fairly big garlic, minced
  • 1 heaped tbsp minced ginger
  • 1 tin (400 g) coconut milk
  • 100 g fresh coriander leaves
  • 1 mild green chille, deseeded
  • 1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/2 lemon juice

How to Make Butternut Squash Cafreal Curry with Caramelised Onions

1. Heat some oil in a big pan, fry the onions until golden and crispy, about 15 minutes. Then set aside.
2. Cut the butternut squash into thin slices. In the same pan, grill them till tender and a little burnt. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. This step also takes around 15 minutes. You may need to grill them in 2-3 patches if the pan is not big enough. After that, set them aside. (You may also oven-roast them)
3. Now, prepare the sauce. Heat a little oil in the same pan, slowly fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Meanwhile, whiz the chille, coriander and coconut milk in a blender until smooth.
4. Pour the coconut sauce into the pan with the fried garlic and ginger, also add cumin and cinnamon powder, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Bring to simmer.
5. Place some freshly steamed basmati rice on a plate. Topping with roasted butternut squash, then pour over the cafreal sauce, put on some caramelised onions and serve immediately.

More Easy Curry Recipes

• Chickpea Curry (Chana Masala, NO coconut milk)
• The Happy Pear Chickpea Curry (Steps-Cut Chana Masala)
• Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash
• Easy Moong Dal with Garlic Tadka
• Vegan Kale Potato Indian Curry