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Saturday, February 01, 2003
Dining Macanese
By Therese Y. Manulat
Macanese is a term that refers to a cuisine, people and all other things that is a combination of Chinese and Portuguese which were created in Macau, that cosmopolitan city on the south China peninsula, near Hong Kong.
Macanese cuisine is one of the pioneers of fusion cooking as the Portuguese conquestadores armed with European recipes combined it with Chinese ingredients and methods of cooking.
Travelers from Cebu recently got their fill of Macanese food and yes! It was one culinary experience their palates will never forget.The African Chicken and Serradora for dessert at Restaurante Litoral, the bacalhau (codfish) at Porto Interior, the callo verde and roasted suckling pig (like lechon) at O Capital.Wash it down with Portuguese wine or Chinese green tea. Add the charming talk of locals like true-blue Macanese Joao Sales and voila! The meal is complete.
Macanese Minced Meats (Minchi)
Minchi is very easy to prepare - a perfect supper dish. Although it is a typically Macanese dish, its name was coined by Macanese living in Hong Kong in the 1840’s who “chinglished” the English “mince” into “minchi”.
Ingredients:
500g raw minced beef or pork, or a mixture of both
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp lard + 2 tbsp for frying potatoes (or substitute vegetable oil)
1 cup light chicken stock
1/4 cuplight soy sauce
4 pcs eggs
salt and pepper
Procedure:
Lightly brown the onion and garlic in a wok add the meat and stir fry till well browned (5-10 minutes). Add all other ingredients except potatoes and eggs and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, till almost all liquid has been absorbed for about 30 minutes. It should be only just moist and slightly crumbled. Fry the potatoes till crisp and golden.
Mix meat and potatoes and place in 4 hot serving dishes. Fry the eggs, sunny side up, in the fat from the potatoes and place one on top of each serving. Accompany with hot, plain boiled rice.
Serves 4.
Green Vegetable Soup (Caldo Verde)
Ingredients:
125g of dark green cabbage or other leafy green vegetables - the leaves of Chinese bok choy are used in Macau - rolled into tight “cigars” and very finely sliced with a sharp knife. This soup is so popular in Portugal that they have even devised a special machine to slice the cabbage - great piles of ready sliced cabbage are to be seen in every market!
500g potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed with a little salt
25ml Portuguese olive oil
1 liter water
12 slices Portuguese sausage, cut into quarters
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Cook the potatoes, onions and garlic together, covered, in water till very tender. Purée the lot, water and all, in a blender or mash with a potato masher.
Return the soup to the pan, bring to a boil, add the vegetable and season with salt and pepper. Simmer till the vegetable is just cooked (about 3 minutes). Stir in the olive oil and the sausage. Serve very hot with a jug of extra oil and some crusty, country-style bread.
Grilled King Prawn Macanese Style (Gambas à Macau)
Ingredients:
20 pcs. large prawns with shell, 150g red chilli, 70g garlic, 30g spring onion, 1.5 dl white wine, 150g butter, 3 pcs. bay leaves
Method:
1. Remove the head and tail, slice open the body from the back and rub with salt.
2. Chop garlic, shallot, red chili, spring onion into small pieces and mix with bay leaves and white wine.
3. Stuff a little mixture inside the prawn back and fry in oil.
4. Melt the butter and stir-fry the remaining mixture into a sauce, then put sauce on top of prawn and serve.
Baked Crab Meat in Shell (Casquinha de Caranguejo)
Ingredients:
1.2kg crab meat, 350g onion, 20g garlic, 4 pcs. sliced ham, 420g mushroom, 40g red pimentos, 25g butter, 700ml Béchamel sauce, 4 pcs. egg, cheese, bread crumb, salt and pepper as needed.
Method:
1. Separate the crab meat from the shell, clean the crab meat and boil together with ginger, onion, bay leaf and lemon.
2. Coarsely chop onion, garlic, ham, mushroom and red pimentos.
3. Sauté the chopped vegetables and then add crab meat to fry, put in salt, pepper and cheese, stir until cheese dissolves. Finally pour in Béchamel sauce to mix.
4. Apportion the mixture onto crab shells, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese.
5. Put in the oven and bake until golden brown.
(February 1, 2003 issue)
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