Portuguese-style marinade with Mediterranean-inspired fried rice for Christmas
WHEN my wife and I travelled to Macau with my in-laws more than 20 years ago, we knew the Portuguese food there would be different from Eurasian dishes we were familiar with in Melaka.
That was the era before Waze, when navigation meant deciphering paper maps and asking strangers who might or might not have understood where we were trying to go.
After a few wrong turns and a rather theatrical Category 3 typhoon, we finally found our way to one of Macau’s venerable Portuguese institutions – Rico’s Est de Comida.
We ordered three dishes that leapt out instantly while we were perusing the menu – roast fish, beef ribs and the restaurant’s famed Portuguese baked chicken rice.
The woman who took our order assured us that if we chose the chicken, there would be absolutely no need to order rice.
“It comes with four bowls of rice stuffed inside,” she said with an unmistakable note of pride.
Half an hour later, a glistening golden bird arrived already portioned into four, conveniently matching everyone’s preferences.
Portuguese baked chicken rice. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
My wife and I claimed the breast pieces while my in-laws ventured for the leg quarters.
The aroma that escaped when we pried the chicken open was unforgettable: Western-style fried rice infused with paprika, olives and capsicum, steaming gently inside a cocoon of juicy meat and crackling skin.
Later, I discovered that despite being called “baked”, the chicken had been actually deep-fried, very much like our Hainanese roast chicken rice.
Macanese Portuguese cuisine, like its Melaka cousin, is a meeting point of Chinese and Portuguese culinary traditions of more than 450 years. This legacy dates back to the 16th century when Macau was leased to Portugal as a trading post.
Trying to recreate that gustatory memory at home required a bit of guesswork.
After all, the dish does not come from a tidy recipe card but from a living food culture.
I used a Portuguese-style marinade for the chicken and filled it with Mediterranean-inspired fried rice.
Portuguese baked chicken rice
Marinade
2kg broiler chicken
½ bulb garlic, crushed
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup cold water for the pan
Fried rice stuffing
2 cups onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 cup red capsicum, diced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cups overnight rice
¼ cup green olives, minced
¼ cup black olives, minced
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt to taste
1 tsp white pepper to taste
½ cup chicken broth
Directions
Clean the chicken to remove all the innards and feather stubbles.
Carefully debone the chicken, keeping the bones in the wings and legs intact. Pat dry with paper towels.
Blend garlic, salt, paprika, pepper and olive oil into a fine paste in an electric mill.
Rub the marinade all over the inside and outside of the chicken, then allow to marinate in the refrigerator for one to two hours.
Heat olive oil to saute onions, garlic, mushrooms and capsicum until wilted.
Add rice to saute until fragrant, then season with olives, paprika, parsley, salt and pepper.
Add chicken broth to simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Set aside to cool for a while.
Preheat the oven to 250°C. When the stuffing is cool enough to handle, fill the chicken cavity from both ends and seal the openings with skewers.
Place the stuffed chicken on a roasting rack set over a pan of cold water.
Roast the chicken for 20 minutes at 250°C, reduce to 180°C and cook for a further 20 to 30 minutes until the juices run clear.
Allow it to rest for 30 minutes before splitting into quarters to serve.
