Macao Fried Rice -- 澳門炒飯

 

The following is a recipe I loved when I first tried it, cooked often for a while and then, like so many newspaper clipping recipes in the pre-laptop/internet era, misplaced for years.  I finally tracked it down again and was very glad I did.  It's excellent and needs to be shared.

This is fried rice as prepared on the island nation of Macao, Hong Kong's "sister" island and also part of the so-called Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.  I think of it as a "quick paella" (the flavors are very close) and you can certainly add some of the traditional paella ingredients such as shrimp, chicken or shellfish as accompaniments.  Paella, of course, is wonderful to cook, but it can be challenging to get the hang of it (especially seafood paella) and it does take quite a bit of time.  This is quick, easy and, once you have it down, easy to vary in a number of pleasing ways.

The author of the recipe and the New York Times magazine article that included it is the Indian cooking authority, Julie Sahni.  Her name is always indicates excellence.

ARROZ FRITO PORTUGUESA (Macao Fried Rice) 

(Julie Sahni recipe from 1988 NYT Magazine article on the cooking of Macao)

Small pinch saffron

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon of water

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger

1/2 cup pureed tomatoes (fresh or canned)

1/2 cup chopped yellow onions

3 cups cooked rice

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce or soy sauce

1/2 cup frozen green peas, defrosted

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions.

1. Powder the saffron in a small bowl using your finger tips. Stir in one tablespoon of water and set aside.

2. In a wok or a large saute pan, heat one tablespoon of the oil and add the beaten egg. Immediately tilt the pan, spreading the egg to coat the bottom of the wok. As soon as the egg sets, turn off the heat. Scrape the omelet into a bowl, breaking into pieces.

3. Add the remaining oil to the wok over high heat. Add the ginger, sizzle for 15 seconds, then add the tomatoes and saffron water. Cook, stirring constantly, until the contents turn thick and glazed (about four minutes). Add the onions and cook an additional minute. Fold in the rice, salt, pepper and oyster or soy sauce. Cook until the contents are heated through (about two minutes). Stir in the peas and egg pieces, tossing for about 30 seconds. Add the scallions and serve immediately.

Yield: Four to six servings. 

Macao 1870 (above)

Macao today (below)

 Arroz Frito Portuguesa 澳門炒飯

Ruins of St. Paul Cathedral, Macao (1582-1605), 大三巴牌坊

 

Preparing the world's largest paella, 2003, Cornudella de Monstant, Spain

Reincarnated Souls: Bunny and Eddie; U and Santa

 
Bunny (rear) and Eddie (front)

When the subject of reincarnation comes up, one usually prefers to keep one's own counsel, rather than risk being thought at best eccentric, at worst insane.

But in this crazy world (I don't need to tell you why; surely you know) where everything seems so close to the edge and you only need to turn on the television at any given moment for proof that real insanity exists and is contagious, it's best to speak one's mind.

So, I'll say it.

My cats Bunny and Eddie are the reincarnated spirits of my cats U and Santa and I am very, very grateful to have them present and part of my life. 

Bunny (lunette shot)

Eddie

Archilochus of Paros

 

The Chigi Vase (ca. 640-630 BC)

Museo Villa Guila, Roma

"From Paros

The lovely

We march."

Long before the larks this morning, I was up and continuing my medieval scribe-like activities downstairs while my human and animal family slept, copying legal ethics rules from one book into another.  I'm doing this for a perfectly good reason, but still it reminded me of the old Spartan admonition, which I'm sure my mother used to provide me as direction only lightly, simply because she found it amusing to say:

"Come home with your shield or on it".

So, after finishing copying Chapter 1 (this being the second stage of copying -- transcrbing cursive handwritten notes to computer text because even I have trouble reading my own script), I took a break and decided to hunt down images of Archilochus of Paros, the 6th century B.C. Greek warrior-poet, who wrote in response:

"Some Saian mountaineer

Struts today with my shield.

I threw it down by a bush and ran

When the fighting got hot.

Life seemed somehow more precious.

It was a beautiful shield.

I know where I can buy another

Exactly like it, just as round."

Bust of Archilocus, 1st or 2nd century AD after an original dating to 3rd or 2nd century BC, Italy;

Louvre, Paris (former Borghese Collection; purchased 1807)

Like his near contemporaries, Sappho and Alkman, Archilocus' work is preserved for us mainly in fragments.  They make compelling, almost addictive reading and once you begin a round of Archilocus consultation, it's almost impossible to stop:

"Let him go ahead.

Ares is a democrat.

There are no privileged people 

On a battlefield."

"As a dove to a sheaf of wheat,

So friends to you."

"Curl hung

In curl."

"Truth is born

as lightning strikes."

"Her hair was as simple

As flax, and I,

I am heavy with infamy."

The Archilocus translations I read are found in Guy Davenport's 7 Greeks set of translations (New Directions, 1995), which I can highly recommend.  However, I am not a Greek scholar and there are possibly other translations preferred by experts.

But from the time I first read Archilochus (many of these fragments also appeared in an earlier Davenport collection) a long time ago, I found his combination of close observation and descriptions of the physical world and daily activity, including human vanity, faithlessness and other foibles, and his terseness, toughness and sarcasm to be irresistible.  Although I think he meant to stir things up, he calms me down.

Oddly, I discovered that the poet's name is also that of a small Genus of hummingbirds whose portraits are found below.  I found a rather savage photo of one of these creatures in the warrior act of killing a yellowjacket, but I won't post that.  It's a remarkable shot.

Archilochus alexandri (Black chinned hummingbird)

Archilochus colubris (Ruby-throated hummingbird)

just for fun...