A rich, alluring aroma of curry, carrying an elegant fragrance of spices, wafted to his nose. Li Xiao paid no mind to the wisps of steam rising from inside the bread.
He scooped up a small spoonful of curry and put it straight into his mouth.
The curry was scorching hot, but he couldn’t bear to spit it out.
The curry’s flavor was distinctly layered. In an instant, spicy, slightly sweet, and rich notes intertwined.
It wasn’t a simple heat, but a complex harmony of spices that made every bite a delightful surprise.
Li Xiao couldn’t help but close his eyes, letting the exquisite flavor dance across his taste buds.
He opened his eyes, a look of satisfaction on his face. He immediately picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of chicken coated in curry sauce, and tossed it into his mouth.
The outside of the chicken was seared and aromatic, while the inside was plump and juicy, practically melting in his mouth.
The curry had soaked deep inside, making each piece of chicken taste as if it had been meticulously seasoned. Its tenderness was infused with a profound curry flavor.
After swallowing the chicken, he used a pair of scissors to cut off a small piece of the bread, which was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
Pinching a corner of the bread with his fingers, he dipped it into the steaming curry.
As he took a bite, the crispy crust and the fragrant, spicy curry complemented each other perfectly, creating an ultimate textural delight.
At the same time, the system notification arrived right on cue.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked the 20th entry in your Collection.]
[Gourmet Collection Entry Unlocked: Portuguese-Style Curry Chicken Baked in Bread]
[Dish Rating: 97 Points [Excellent]]
[Due to the Excellent rating, rewards are quadrupled (x4)!]
[Congratulations! You have received: Insights into Selecting Curry Spices.]
[Congratulations! You have received: Insights into Simmering Curry.]
[Congratulations! You have received a cash reward: 800,000.]
[Congratulations! You have received a cash reward: 800,000.]
...
He gave a thumbs-up to the camera.
"Delicious! This restaurant’s curry is really, really good."
"If you’re a fan of curry, you absolutely cannot miss this."
"The curry here isn’t overly spicy. It leans more toward the flavor of a Portuguese curry. The chef added just the right amount of coconut milk, which gives the curry a rich, creamy fragrance on top of its spiciness."
"The curry is simmered for several hours with over a dozen different spices, giving it an incredibly rich flavor profile. I feel like I could eat two whole bowls of rice with this curry alone."
In the livestream chat:
"This dish looks so unique!"
"They can actually fit curry and chicken inside bread?!"
"Look how much the streamer is enjoying it! You can just tell it’s delicious!"
"My mouth is watering already!"
"Curry with coconut milk? Isn’t that weird?"
"Authentic curry is supposed to have coconut milk, just not a large amount."
...
As the aroma continued to waft from the bread bowl, his companions all gulped.
The three of them followed Li Xiao’s lead, carefully using the golden scissors to cut the round bread "lid" into smaller pieces for dipping into the curry.
Having finished his description for the audience, Li Xiao said no more and began to savor the Portuguese curry chicken before him.
Many countries have a dish like curry chicken in a bread bowl, so he wasn’t sure where it truly originated.
Some said it was from Portugal, others said Spain, and still others claimed Singapore or Thailand. In any case, it definitely wasn’t a native dish of the Xia Country.
After all, neither curry nor bread was a native product.
However, the Xia Country was, after all, an open and adaptive nation. Many foreign dishes underwent considerable development and improvement after arriving in China.
Just like the curry chicken in a bread bowl before him now, Yu Feng Pavilion had miniaturized the dish.
The original version of curry chicken in a bread bowl was completely different from what Li Xiao was eating now.
The earliest version of baked curry chicken in bread involved stuffing an entire chicken and curry sauce directly inside raw dough. Then, just like baking a normal loaf of bread, the entire thing was placed in an oven to bake.
As a result, the entire loaf was massive. It was not only difficult to make but also incredibly cumbersome to serve.
Furthermore, its immense size meant the baking time had to be significantly extended.
And with chicken, if it’s cooked for too long, the meat becomes dry and tough. This was especially true for a whole chicken; often, the outside would be fully cooked while the inside was still half-raw.
To avoid this problem, foreign chefs had no choice but to lower the baking temperature while extending the baking time, ensuring all the ingredients cooked through completely.
However, anyone with cooking experience knows that such a long cooking time makes the chicken dry, tough, and unpleasant to eat.
Moreover, if the dough wasn’t prepared perfectly, there was a high risk of disaster. During baking, the heating curry would produce a large amount of steam, causing the bread to burst open and ruin the entire dish.
After the dish of baked curry chicken in bread was introduced to the Xia Country, it was quickly refined.
Chefs stopped wrapping a whole chicken in raw dough to bake them together.
Instead, they broke the cooking process into separate steps. First, they would bake a sufficiently thick bread loaf.
Then, they would cook the curry chicken in advance. Next, they’d cut an opening in the top of the loaf, hollow out the excess bread inside, and pour in the prepared curry chicken.
Afterward, they would place the "lid" back on, wrap the loaf in tin foil, and put it back in the oven to heat through.
This method not only drastically reduced the overall cooking time and difficulty but also made the entire dish taste much better.
Furthermore, the massive loaf required to hold a whole chicken was replaced by a small, round loaf just slightly larger than a fist.
The whole chicken inside was replaced with deboned chicken pieces.
Inside, there wasn’t just chicken, but also golden-fried potatoes, lightly browned chunks of carrot, and pieces of onion.
There was also a small bundle of tied herbs. The potato chunks were fried until golden and crisp, then added to the curry to cook with the chicken.
After being stewed for a long time, the once-crispy potato chunks became soft and tender.
They also absorbed a large amount of the curry and chicken juices, infusing the potatoes completely with a fragrant, savory flavor. They were soft, tender, and absolutely delicious.
After swallowing a soft piece of potato, Li Xiao scooped up another spoonful of the curry sauce, which had little specks of bright red chili oil floating on top.
The curry flavor was intense. A powerful curry aroma rushed to greet him. While the flavor was rich, no single aspect was overpowering. It was clear the proportions of the various spices had been meticulously balanced.
The curry had a distinct coconut milk flavor, which added more layers and complexity to its taste profile.
The curry’s flavor leaned toward the sweeter side, an obvious adjustment to cater to the local palate in Guangdong Province.
The curry was silky smooth. The chef had clearly filtered it multiple times after cooking to remove any stray herb fragments and other solids.
A subtle spiciness made his tongue tingle.
He picked up a piece of seared, aromatic chicken and tossed it into his mouth.
After being slow-cooked for so long, the fragrant chicken had become fall-apart tender.
’Gotta be honest,’ he thought, ’even if all the other dishes are just average, Yu Feng Pavilion could thrive on this dish alone.’