African Chicken from Macau

iChrissy's nostalgic walk down memory lane towards the cinnamon buns of yesteryear inspired guest chef, iGuy, to try his hand at slow roasted chicken. After much careful negotiation, iChrissy has decided to post the results.
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This is a dish that iGuy and iBro (they're twins) fondly remember from Macau, a small island off the coast of Hong Kong. The island was a Portuguese colony until it changed hands in 1999, becoming a district of China with little fanfare. Part of iGuy's family lives in Macau making it easy to visit when iGuy takes the occasional trip to Hong Kong. Macau's cuisine is truly spectacular! It's a rare mix of African, Indian, and Chinese spices, techniques, and flavors. Because of its geography, the seafood is fresh and always excellent. Ocean fresh fish and shrimp as big as lobster tails are the norm. Being mainly carnivorous, iGuy and iBro do not always think of seafood when they think of Macau. But instead thoughts wander towards Macau's tender fire-roasted chicken in a thick, spicy, rich red sauce that is phenomenal over rice. This dish is known as African Chicken although iGuy ha’s seen it referred to Cafreal Chicken. On iGuy'’s last trip to Hong Kong in November 2005, he surely did stop in Macau. Unfortunately, iGuy did not get African chicken, opting to skip on the poultry during the height of the Avian Bird Flu scare (iGuy returned to the States fine, but longing for poultry). Thankfully, iGuy had pick up a cookbook of traditional Macauanese cuisine. This is iGuy'’s first attempt to recreate the magic of his bird flu free past.

Pre-Roasted:
















Post-Roasted:
















The Conclusion:
The chicken was quite tasty! iGuy, iRoomie, iBro and his iWife all sampled the chicken and gave it a thumbs up! The chicken was butterflied and rubbed with a paste of garlic, lemon juice, chilies, and tumeric. Normally, iGuy prefers brining a chicken before roasting it, but this was not necessary as he basted the chicken with coconut milk. The combo of the coconut milk and pan juices made a delicious sauce that was spooned over rice. The chicken did not turn out the color iGuy had wished as he remembers the dish being a rich red color, though as you can see it turned out the orangey-yellow color of the tumeric. The dish also had much more sauce in iGuy's childhood memories. But iGuy can'’t complain about the flavor, but the recipe will have to be tweaked in the future to include more red colored ingredients (perhaps foreign grown tumeric?).

iGuy's Specialized Manly Rating: 3 out of 5 fists of approval