A Brief History of Macanese Food + Chili Prawns
Have you ever had Macanese chili prawns? 🦐 What about Macanese cuisine in general? Or maybe you’ve visited Macau, a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China (MSAR) and a former Portuguese colony located by the South China Sea…
Perhaps, you have heard of Portuguese egg tart, deliciously flaky custard tarts with its signature slightly burnt top. To be clear, they are not exactly the same as Portuguese's beloved pastel de nata. They are, in my opinion, better than that! They are like cousins of pastel de nata with heavy British accents. They were created with great influence from the British custard tarts which were brought over to Hong Kong by the (duh!) British. You can watch a YouTube clip here more about it here if you want. You can also do further reading on this topic here.
Anyways, I digress (sorry, but you REALLY need to get yourself some Portuguese egg tart if you haven't had them). Portuguese egg tart is just one of many culinary examples out there from Macau, a city in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea.
I know this post is NOT about these beautiful pastries, but I just have to share this photo with you…since they are absolutely divine.
Flaky and buttery on the outside and juicy, soft, and creamy inside, these Portuguese egg tarts are something you won’t forget when you have them for the first time. Here is a version of Portuguese egg tarts found in Di Fiori in Seoul, South Korea. As expected (because good things spread fast), all over Asia, the Macanese version of Portuguese egg tarts is sold in bakeries.
At one point, I remember eating one of these in South Korean KFC as a dessert… thanks to KFC’s global marketing team and their efforts to change the menu to meet the local demand.
It is easy to forget (when you are living in America or Europe?) that China is a truly massive country with a ton of diversity inside. Macau, before it was officially returned to China in 1999, was governed by Portugal (for approximately... five hundred years). Finding European style architecture and cemeteries with rather Portuguese sounding names is not too strange in this city--rather, it is expected given its history.
While I certainly do not want to overlook or glorify the region's history being colonized by Portugal, learning about cultural domino effects created when the spice trade between Europe and Asia came to a halt when Constantinople fell in 1453 and the Ottoman Empire blocked overland trade routes--thus by forcing Europeans to turn to the sea in search of spice--feels almost surreal. According to the cookbook The Adventures of Fat Rice: Recipes from the Chicago Restaurant Inspired by Macau (Lo & Conlon, 2016), in the years followed, cooks in Malaysia started using spices from India such as tumeric and Malaysia's beloved fermented shrimp paste and coconut made the voyage to China. The origin of vindaloo, a popular curry you can easily find at your local Indian restaurant, can be traced back to this time period when Portugal's carne de vinha d'alhos (vinegar-braised meat) became infused with Indian spices for the first time.
Before the 16th century and its economic boom resulting from international trade, Macau was a city by the sea that was not too highly populated. Initially, European merchants and visitors set up their trading posts in Hong Kong, but due to frequent military clashes with the Ming soldiers, foreign merchants and sailors left Hong Kong and resettled in Macau (although, the trade ban still remained until Luso-Chinese trade relations were formally reestablished in 1554). In 1557, Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau and agreed to pay 500 taels of silver annually for renting the land.
Soon a number of Portuguese merchants and nationals grew rapidly in number in Macau. With a growing number of Portuguese in town, the demand for food similar to the food from Portugal and Europe grew. And Macanese cuisine, a cuisine known for its fusion-like nature, was born. It is commonly said unique spice blends created from mixing different ingredients (often from different countries) were results of wives of Portuguese merchants/sailors desperately trying to recreate Portuguese/European flavors for their families...perhaps missing their home country.
Fat Rice, a Chicago restaurant specializing in Macanese cuisine (now closed) used to offer a mixture of dishes ranging from authentic to dishes influenced by authentic Macanese cuisine. This is their version of the chili prawns served at their restaurant.
* The chili prawn recipe shared on the site is adapted from their version of the recipe.
For example, this chili prawn recipe includes olives, butter, and dry white wine...as well as... Chinese fermented bean sauce (dou ban jiang) and chili garlic sauce from Huy Feng Company. While trying to imagine flavors created with olives, butter, and Chinese fermented bean sauce might make you say ‘huh?’ the end result is strangely good. A bit of heat and saltiness from the bean sauce mixed with butter creates the perfect drinking snack to go along with some rice.
*Side note: You can easily find Chinese fermented bean sauce (dou ban jiang) & chili garlic sauce from an Asian grocery store. You could also find it on Amazon or other online grocery stores.
*Huy Feng Company's Chilli Garlic sauce is awesome! You will not regret getting this! It is like a spicer +less sweet cousin of famous Sriracha sauce.
