Thursday, July 15, 2010

澳门鸳鸯芝士鸡扒炬饭- Macau's 'yun yong' cheese chicken baked rice

澳门鸳鸯炬饭 ( Macau's 'yun yong' baked rice) is a speciality dish in Hong Kong and Macau. 'Yun yong' in chinese referred to a pair of mandarin ducks which 'yun' is the male duck while 'yang' is the female.


This can be explained using  the 'yin and yang' in Taoism. The white part suggested the 'yun' and the white part referred to the 'yong'. There is a similar meaning between 'yun yong' and 'yin yang'.


'Yun' and 'Yin' represent the male.
'Yong' and 'Yang' represent the female.



Macau is a bicultural country whereby 2 cultures co-exist that include chinese (cantonese) and portuguese. Thus,  you can find many unique and distinctive dishes in Macau that have blends of chinese and portuguese ingredients. Some examples of the dishes are portuguese-style egg tart and pork chop bun.


'Yun yong' cheese baked rice is another dish that manifested the fusion. It was concocted with 2 sauces scooped on top of pork chop or other meat sources and heaped up with abundance of cheese which was sent for baking to melt the cheese.


My first try on 'yun yong' cheese baked rice was at ' Wan zai char chan teng' ( 湾仔茶餐厅).  I was puzzled and curious about this 'yun yong' baked rice as the name sounds interesting that I gave it a try. I was surprised to find that 2 sauces 'harmonize' well and one will never stand out alone itself.


The rice was overloaded with extravagance of cheese, gravies and pork chop.Vaguely, it sorta reflected back to my mind that the gravies that I'd tried at 'Wan zai' should be tomato and curry.



This dish will not conjure to my mind if I did not have leftover curry gravy from last night's dinner. For my first trial, I'd came up with my own recipe as there is little or scarce good recipes on websites that I can put to use.


Initially, I was brooded over the thought that my brothers might not accept the taste. However, they accepted the taste and find it delectable. My father extoled that it was a creative idea to have think of using leftover food to cook up another scrumptious meal!
It was just like the scenario in TVB drama,  ' The stew of life' ( 有营煮妇), which 鲁小丽(李司棋) quoted "食得唔好噻". Haha, I'm really bad with my cantonese.



Recipe ( for 6 servings) :

Marinate the chicken chop:

  • 4 boneless chicken thighs
  • 2 tbsp kikkoman teriyaki sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 tsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp A1 sauce
  • sprinkles of basils and parsleys
Butter rice
  • 6 cups cooked/overnight rice (Not the chinese rice cup)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/3 cup chicken stock
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • dash of pepper

Tomato gravy
  • 1 bottle (575g) of tomato pasta sauce
  • 1 big onion, chopped
  • 1 tbsp butter

Curry gravy
  • 1  packet Japanese S&B golden curry (100g)
  • 1 big onion, chopped
  • 2 1/2 cups water 

1 packet of grated cheese or mozarella cheese


  1. Marinate the chicken by mixing all the ingredients together and refrigerate it for 2-3 hours. After 2-3 hour, barbecue it at 195C for 25-30mins or the meat turn golden brown.
  2. For the butter rice, heat up wok. Melt 3 tbsp butter and add in chopped garlic, stir-fry till aromatic. Pour in chicken stock and stir the rice at high heat to slightly dry up the stock. Sprinkle in sugar, salt and pepper. Add in tomato paste to mix. Turn off the stove, divvy the rice onto the ceramic bowls.
  3. For the tomato gravy, stir-fry onions with butter till redolent and add in tomato pasta  paste. Dish up the tomato gravy and set aside.
  4. For the curry gravy, stir fry onion till fragrant and and pour in water. Allow the water to boil and add in curry bricks. Simmer for 10 mins to thicken the sauce.
  5. Place the chicken chop on top of the rice, add in the gravy and sprinke with generous amount of grated cheese. Baked at 190C for 10-15mins.


Butter rice




Chicken chop




Tomato gravy


Curry gravy


Sprinkled with grated cheese


"When east meets the west"



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