A taste of Malacca in Macau
Macau was born of Malacca – over five hundred years ago the Portuguese took possession of the Malay state and from there they set sail to find a base on the South China Coast and established the tiny enclave of Macau.
Like Macau, Malacca has a rich and varied culture and history, the people of Malacca are the descendants of the original Malay inhabitants, the Dutch, Portuguese and British colonists and the Chinese and Indian traders who also made the region their home. The early Portuguese married local Malaccan women and a unique group of people was created – the Jenti Cristang, Christian people. To be considered a true Cristang a person must be of Christian religion and have at least one ancestor of Malaccan-Portuguese blood, descendants of the unions of those first Portuguese with the local Malaccans.
The Portuguese found that the cosmopolitan port of Malacca was already a culinary melting pot with the foods of the Malay, Chinese, Arab and Indian cultures melded into delicious dishes. By combining the ingredients of the local cuisines with Portuguese cooking methods the Cristang created a cuisine of their own. The Portuguese brought onions, garlic and chillies to the East and adopted the use of lemon, lime and tamarind to lift flavours and coconut milk to round out the fires of the spices. Combinations of lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal were used in imaginative ways to give curries, sambals and soup an exotic flavour. The sweet/sour flavours of the Chinese cuisine also found favour with the Cristang people.
Today’s typical Cristang menus include such delicious things as Fisherman’s soup, a light lemony/limey broth with prawns, squid, mussels and fish. Then there’s a pork sambal made with candlenuts and bean curd, flavoured with Belachan, the ancestor of the Macanese Balichao. A pot roast chicken teams up with potatoes, aromatic spices and green peas whilst a spicy grilled fish wears a cloak of tamarind, shallots, lemon grass, chillies and other spices. Prawns get in on the act in pineapple curry, with water spinach and coconut milk and with fried long beans, even eggplants transform from a bland vegetable into something special with soy and lime sauce.
Desserts are just as imaginative. South East Asians have long used Agar-Agar, a seaweed which when dissolved with other ingredients will set to a jelly – the Cristang make a golden shimmering jelly with this. Mung beans don’t leap to mind in desserts but when combined with coconut milk and palm sugar they make a delicious sweet soup. Then there are cakes – ubiquitous tea-time fare in Europe transplanted to Asia.
Next weekend, from August 14 to 16, all this and more will be available in Macau at the Pousada de Coloane prepared especially by Guest Chef Madame Celine J. Marbeck. Celine is Malaccan Cristang through and through, able to trace her Dutch/Portuguese ancestry back through four generations. As well as being a noted chef, Celine is an historian and author of several cookery books – she has made it her mission to preserve the traditions and cuisine of her people.
This special weekend promotion is being generously sponsored by the Macau Government Tourist Office and is also supported by Tourism Malaysia Hong Kong Office which is providing three beautiful pieces of Royal Selangor pewter for a daily lucky draw.
Pairing wine to spicy food is never easy but Summergate Fine Wines and Spirits have risen to the occasion by sponsoring wines specifically selected to match the aromatic herbs and spices used in Cristang cooking. Two glasses of wine are included with each meal with bottles for sale at attractive prices.