African Chicken, Macau style

[HKDave]

African Chicken, Macau style

This dish remains popular in the 450 year old former Portuguese colony of Macau, on the China coast. It shows the influences of Portugal on Asian cooking, most notably by their introducing ingedients like peppers and peanuts to Asia. Macau was for centuries a place where East met West, and that is reflected in the cooking there to this day.

This recipe is supposed to be the version formerly served at Henri's Galley in Macau. Henri's still exists but the dish there has changed. A similar recipe appeared in an article on Macau in Gourmet Magazine in the '80s. If anyone still has that article, please PM me.

• A 3 -3 1/2 lb. Chicken, halved, quartered or cut into pieces.
  

Marinade for Chicken

• 1 tsp minced dried hot chile pepper
  
• 1 tsp minced garlic
  
• 2 T minced shallot
  
• 1 tsp paprika
  
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
  
• 2 tsp crumbled dried rosemary
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste.
  

Sauce

• 1 c minced shallot
  
• 1/2 c minced garlic
  
• 1-1/2 c minced red bell pepper (or smaller qty of hotter red peppers if desired)
  
• 1/4 c canola oil
  
• 1/2 c sweet paprika
  
• 1 c grated coconut
  
• 1/2 c natural peanut butter
  
• 1-1/2 c chicken stock
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 3 T canola oil
  
• 1 baking potato (or 4-5 new potatoes)
  

Mix marinade ingredients, rub into chicken and marinate covered in fridge overnight. Adding a little oil to the marinade helps the rub stick to the chicken.

Sweat shallots, garlic and peppers in oil over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are softened. Add paprika, coconut, peanut butter, bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes. Discard the bay leaves. Keep warm.

Heat oil medium high in a frypan and brown the chicken well with the potato cut into one inch cubes. Even better, grill the chicken, and brown potato seperately. Transfer chicken and potatoes to baking dish, spoon 2 cups of the sauce over, and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes if in pieces, a little longer if in halves. Finish with remaining sauce, and serve.

Keywords: Main Dish, Chicken, Spanish/Portugese

( RG1085 )

[HKDave]

I had no idea when I posted the above that it would become something of a standard for this dish, re-appearing sometimes with little or no alteration, or attribution to Gourmet, in articles, blogs and even a cookbook over the years. If you searched the web for an African Chicken recipe in 2004, I guess this is where you ended up.

In retrospect, it sounds like a ridiculous recipe. A cup of minced shallot? Half a cup of minced garlic? I later tracked down a copy of the Gourmet magazine this appeared in (August 1991), and yes, what I posted was more or less correct. But as I said upthread, by 2004 Henri's Galley was using a different recipe.

I still spend time in Macau, and in the decades since the original post I've encountered several versions of the dish, including two accompanied by claims that their (different) families had invented it (both in post-WW2 Macau; it's not an ancient dish). That's a dispute I don't want to get involved in, but the Gourmet recipe I posted was nothing like either. So it's time for an update.

The dish seems to have 2 main schools... with peanuts or peanut butter in the sauce; or else just coconut-and-chili based, without peanuts. Neither of the "inventor" dishes had peanuts, and the version taught and served at the IFT, Macau's government tourism school, also doesn't. Me, I prefer it with peanut. Here are simpler recipes, the first with peanut, the second without:

This is more-or-less the current Henri's Galley recipe (from Macau News, March 2023):

1 small Chicken (abt 1kg), halved and flattened
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
100g med-hot fresh red chili pepper, chopped (see note below)
1 litre chicken stock
1 small plum tomato, chopped
2t tomato paste
1T peanut butter
30g ground coconut
cooking wine
Olive oil for frying

Brown chicken well in a saute pan. Set chicken aside.
In the pan you used for the chicken, soften garlic and chili in olive oil.
Deglaze with a glug of the wine, then add the stock and all remaining ingredients.
Add the chicken back to the pan, bring to a simmer
Lid on, cook +/- 12 min (depends on chicken size) til done (can also chuck in oven)

And this is more-or-less the current IFT recipe (from a demo by an instructor, so not exact):

Sauce:
1 red med-hot chili pepper (see note below)
3 cloves garlic
1 shallot
grated coconut
lemon zest, paprika, white pepper, salt to taste
Puree all above w/ 1 can coconut milk

1 small (abt 1kg) chicken, halved (IFT serves boneless in their restaurant, but I wouldn't)

Brown chicken in butter in an oven-safe pan, then add the above sauce.
Bring to a simmer, then put the pan in a 200c oven for 15 min.

Note for both recipes: the red chili pepper used here is similar in size and heat to to a red "Anaheim" chili pepper in North America. If needed, you can sub red bell pepper for colour/volume, with a smaller quantity of a hotter pepper (or a red pepper powder, such as cayenne) to taste for the heat.

And why is it called "African", despite being invented in Macau? I used to assume it was because of the from-Africa peanuts, but finding out that the dish probably didn't originally include peanuts quashes that. The most plausible story, of many I've heard, was that when it was first put on a menu here, the restaurant wanted a name that warned people that it was spicy (by Macau standards), and it was thought "African" would be exotic enough to do that - despite the fact that chilies are from South America, not Africa.

[Maison Rustique]

4 hours ago, HKDave said:

I had no idea when I posted the above that it would become something of a standard for this dish, re-appearing sometimes with little or no alteration, or attribution to Gourmet, in articles, blogs and even a cookbook over the years. If you searched the web for an African Chicken recipe in 2004, I guess this is where you ended up.

In retrospect, it sounds like a ridiculous recipe. A cup of minced shallot? Half a cup of minced garlic? I later tracked down a copy of the Gourmet magazine this appeared in (August 1991), and yes, what I posted was more or less correct. But as I said upthread, by 2004 Henri's Galley was using a different recipe.

I still spend time in Macau, and in the decades since the original post I've encountered several versions of the dish, including two accompanied by claims that their (different) families had invented it (both in post-WW2 Macau; it's not an ancient dish). That's a dispute I don't want to get involved in, but the Gourmet recipe I posted was nothing like either. So it's time for an update.

The dish seems to have 2 main schools... with peanuts or peanut butter in the sauce; or else just coconut-and-chili based, without peanuts. Neither of the "inventor" dishes had peanuts, and the version taught and served at the IFT, Macau's government tourism school, also doesn't. Me, I prefer it with peanut. Here are simpler recipes, the first with peanut, the second without:

This is more-or-less the current Henri's Galley recipe (from Macau News, March 2023):

1 small Chicken (abt 1kg), halved and flattened
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
100g med-hot fresh red chili pepper, chopped (see note below)
1 litre chicken stock
1 small plum tomato, chopped
2t tomato paste
1T peanut butter
30g ground coconut
cooking wine
Olive oil for frying

Brown chicken well in a saute pan. Set chicken aside.
In the pan you used for the chicken, soften garlic and chili in olive oil.
Deglaze with a glug of the wine, then add the stock and all remaining ingredients.
Add the chicken back to the pan, bring to a simmer
Lid on, cook +/- 12 min (depends on chicken size) til done (can also chuck in oven)

And this is more-or-less the current IFT recipe (from a demo by an instructor, so not exact):

Sauce:
1 red med-hot chili pepper (see note below)
3 cloves garlic
1 shallot
grated coconut
lemon zest, paprika, white pepper, salt to taste
Puree all above w/ 1 can coconut milk

1 small (abt 1kg) chicken, halved (IFT serves boneless in their restaurant, but I wouldn't)

Brown chicken in butter in an oven-safe pan, then add the above sauce.
Bring to a simmer, then put the pan in a 200c oven for 15 min.

Note for both recipes: the red chili pepper used here is similar in size and heat to to a red "Anaheim" chili pepper in North America. If needed, you can sub red bell pepper for colour/volume, with a smaller quantity of a hotter pepper (or a red pepper powder, such as cayenne) to taste for the heat.

And why is it called "African", despite being invented in Macau? I used to assume it was because of the from-Africa peanuts, but finding out that the dish probably didn't originally include peanuts quashes that. The most plausible story, of many I've heard, was that when it was first put on a menu here, the restaurant wanted a name that warned people that it was spicy (by Macau standards), and it was thought "African" would be exotic enough to do that - despite the fact that chilies are from South America, not Africa.

Thanks for the update!!

[blue_dolphin]

Yes, thanks for the update, @HKDave!  Coincidentally, I was listening to an interview with the father-son duo Jeffrey and Kevin Pang, who moved from Hong Kong to Canada years ago and now make YouTube cooking videos and have published a cookbook.  
The younger Pang described a dish of Hong Kong-Style Portuguese Chicken with origins in Macau:

Quote

For Cantonese kids, this is their mac and cheese, foundational to their Hong Kong childhood. It is the dish they beg their parents to cook on a weeknight, and it is the dish they order at a diner as teenagers, so comforting and with so much bang For the buck. 

And once they become parents themselves, it is the first dish they learn to cook For their kids, so easy to whip up and certain to please. 

What we call Portuguese chicken (with apologies to the nation of Portugal) is actually a dish of Macau, through and through. The Portuguese role in this dish was having once colonized Macau, a valuable sliver of land a 45-minute boat ride to the west of Hong Kong. The Portuguese introduced ingredients such as potatoes, coconut milk, and curry powder to the region, culinary trophies of their expanding empire. 

The Hong Kong version of Macau's Portuguese chicken is a true Fusion dish. Marinated dark meat chicken is cooked in a creamy coconut-curry gravy, topped with Parmesan, and broiled until the top gets charred and crusty. Neither child nor adult can resist sauce and chicken spooned over rice.

 

As you might expect, it’s quite different from the recipes you shared, no chile, no peanut, with curry powder and condensed chicken soup, but clearly a version with good memories for one family.

 

Edited to add that their family recipe is at the interview link I shared above and here in their video:

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Maison Rustique]

Since I'm not a peanut fan, I like version a lot!! Going to try it after the holidays/leftovers.

[HKDave]

Macau's African Chicken and Portuguese Chicken are variations on a theme. The former is darker and hotter thanks to the chili; the latter milder and soupier.

While Portuguese Chicken used to be seasoned with curry powder, these days, as served in HK's cheap cha chaan tengs (casual diners, where the dish is ubiquitous), it's mainly just turmeric. I haven't encountered it made with condensed chicken soup; the liquid is usually coconut milk and chicken broth. If it has cheese on it, it'll be a bit of bland (and cheap) mozzerella or the like, not parmesan. That said, Kevin Pang's Mom's recipe sounds delicious.

 

The Pangs' "Very Chinese Cookbook" is worthy. Their family left HK in the booming '80s, and their recipes sometimes reflect that, in a good way.