Galinha à africana with fresh potato chips, as served near A-Ma Temple in Macau.
Galinha à africana (Portuguese: [ɡɐˈɫĩɲaː.ɐfɾiˈkɐ̃nɐ], African-style chicken, literally African-style hen), often known just as frango assado (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈfɾɐ̃ɡwɐˈsaðu], barbecued chicken, the way it is generally referred to in Brazil) is a dish of Portuguese cuisine, which is a barbecuedchicken coated with spicy piri piri sauce. In Brazil, vendor offered frangos assados are mildly or not spicy; traditional recipes more often reflect individual tastes.,[1][2]
Galinha à africana is also an important dish in Portugal's former colonies, such as Macau (see Macanese cuisine) and Mozambique. In recent years, several fast food chains (such as Oporto and Nando's) selling flame-grilled chicken have been established in a number of countries.
African Chicken was invented in the 1940s in Macau but the original chef died about 30 years later, so the world may never know why it was called African Chicken. It is a "possible nod to Portugal's Moorish history."[3]
Raimund Pichlmaier, president of the Macau Culinary Association, says the dish was created "by a chef named Americo Angelo, who worked at a small hotel called Pousada de Macau. Mr. Angelo was inspired, says Mr. Pichlmaier, by a trip to one of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa."[4]
