Portuguese Baked Chicken (焗葡國雞)

As I wrote on "About me", I love eating, cooking, traveling & watching sport. So, for the first post of my first blog, what should I talk about? I decided to talk about my favorite thing, FOOD!

I always love food even though I was tiny when I was a kid. I always ate more food than my little stomach could handle. When I come to US, I found a lot of new food I love but also had (still have) a hard time to find the food I used to enjoy. So, in order to completely enjoy eating. I have to learn cooking. Overtime, I not only enjoy eating but also create a habit of cooking.

The Portuguese Baked Chicken is a very authentic dish from my hometown, Macau, but I bet you couldn't find it anywhere in Portugal. The Portuguese Baked Chicken is a fusion dish that combines the spices and cooking methods the Portuguese found and learn back from the peak of their colony era. And somehow, it becomes a well known and common dish in Macau. Honestly, I rarely ordered this dish back home but I crave for it time-to-time when I come to US. I guess because I couldn't find it anywhere in US. You can easily find this dish on the menu from any cafe or restaurants in Macau but not many places can make it right nowadays.

Every time I made this dish. People would say it is a curry dish and I would mad about it. In my point of view, this is not a curry dish. I guess I am just too stubborn because it does contain curry in the ingredients. Alright, enough of talking and time for cooking. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs                                               1 cup coconut milk
2 medium onions                                             1 1/4 cups chicken broth
2 large potatoes                                               2 tea spoons tomato paste
2 tomatoes                                                         1 tea spoon turmeric
1 egg, beaten                                                     1 table spoon mild curry powder
50 g black olives                                             1 table spoon shredded coconut
several bay leafs                                              salt and pepper to taste


Cooking direction:

1. Cut chicken thighs in half. Marinate with bay leafs, salt and pepper for at least 1 hour. I usually marinate it overnight in fridge. 
2. Pre-heat oven to 160C or 350 F.
3. Cut the onions and potatoes into small pieces but not dice. Cut the tomato in quarters. Side aside until use. 
4. Heat a large pan with olive oil. Cook the potatoes until golden brown and set aside.
5. Using the same pan, cook the chicken thighs until golden brown. Then, add the cooked potatoes back into the pan. Add the chicken stock. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
6. Transfer the chicken thighs and potatoes into a baking pan. I like to use dutch oven. 
7. Add the tomatoes, onions, turmeric, curry powder, tomato paste and black olives into the remaining chicken broth in the pan. Uncover and simmer gently until the sauce thicken. Approximately 10 minutes.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken and potatoes in the baking pan. 
9. Add the coconut milk and beaten egg on top.
10. Sprinkle with the shredded coconut and baked in the pre-heat oven until the chicken thighs are fully cooked. Approximately 20 to 30 minutes. 
11. Serve hot with bread or rice. I personally love to have it with rice. Enjoy!