Sunday, December 7, 2008

Coxinha

A little while ago, a friend of mine asked (begged) me to make coxinha. What are coxinha you ask? Well, they are fried chicken pastries in the shape of little drumsticks (clearly mine don't look like drumsticks..I'm a novice!). This local restaurant make some of the best coxinha I have ever tried. Actually, I think they are the only coxinha I have ever tried. The ingredient list for these is simple enough, but the process can take quite a while. I definitely do not suggest making these after you have had several cocktails and nothing to eat all day except candy and popcorn like I did yesterday! Raul let me borrow his little deep fryer which made these much easier to make. Although I read the recipe completely through a few times, I still ran into some snags. The boiling of chicken and chopping is very straightforward. However, when it comes time to make the dough, that's when things get strange. I ended up just reheating the stock and chicken and stirring in the flour to make a dough. That's what I did when I made zeppole last year so I thought it would work with this. However, I found the dough to be extremely sticky and difficult to work with so I added much more flour to the mix. Also, in re-reading the recipe, I realized I forgot the egg whites. Even though I halved everything else, I ended up using much closer to the three cups of flour called for in the original recipe. Even with the halved recipe, I had about eighteen of these little balls. They are very filling so I suggest you make them for a party instead of your Saturday late night dinner. One last note. The chicken filling makes more than you will need for the recipe. I am saving mine to use in taquitos or quesadillas or something, so stay tuned!


Oh, I had the opportunity to go to a screening of the insanely amazing movie Milk the other day. if you haven't already seen it, I strongly suggest you get out to your local movie theater and catch this wonderful, inspiring film straight away!

Coxinha
(Adapted from Recipe Zaar)

1 1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 chicken bullion cube
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 green onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 1/2 -2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
Breadcrumbs

Cut chicken breasts into 2-inch cubes, and place in a saucepan with onion, garlic, butter, stock cube, salt and pepper and 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Strain the solids from the broth, retaining the broth and the solids. Finely chop the chicken to make the filling. Add the parsely and green onion to the chicken.

Measure the remaining broth into a saucepan. You will need 1 1/2 xups so make it up with extra water. Add the chicken mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Add all the flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon for one minute until the dough becomes stiff. Remove the dough from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Turn the dough out to a floured board and knead until the dough is smooth, adding more flour if the mixture is too sticky. Using your hands or a tablespoon, break the dough into pieces. Pat flat, and place a piece of cream cheese in the center of the dough. Fold the dough up around the cheese and roll in the breadcrumsb.

Deep fry for 8 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Drain on towels and sprinkle with kosher salt. Serve warm.

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23 comments:

Reeni said...

I have never heard of these. Deep fried chicken and cream cheese? Delicious! They look nice, too, so browned and crispy.

Erica said...

I have never heard of these either! You're always bringing to my attention new foods to try! Glad the movie was good!

vanillasugarblog said...

God those sound good! Little bites of heaven!
I can't wait to see the movie Milk! Sooooooooo looking forward to it.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

when I saw this coxinha pic in tastespotting i was very surprised!
This is very very very popular here in brazil. you can find it in big sizes at any bar,and we have the small ones in kids birthday parties :)
But I'm quite sure the brazillian recipe doesn't ask for cream cheese!

gaga said...

Even though they don't look loike drumsticks, they still look delicious. I've never tried coxinha, but it sounds good.

Unknown said...

who knew? look good to me!

Anonymous said...

Wow. I can't wait to try these!

Heather said...

uhh, wow. i've never heard of these before. they look DELICIOUS!!!! I've been wanting to see Milk for so long. I'm glad to hear it is good!!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Tasty! How do you pronounce coxinha and where are they from? The word looks sort of Portuguese.

Anonymous said...

Eat your heart out, KFC!
They look awesome.

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Esi, I can't pronounce this either, but who cares? I would be too busy stuffing them in my mouth to to talk anyway. They look tasty. I'll be checking out the movie MILK. I love Sean Penn.

Esi said...

Thanks to you all for visiting!

Ana Paula - I don't think this is the most authentic recipe, but it's really good and even though I was unsure about the cream cheese, I really liked it.

Andrea said...

Wow, way to go cooking on the fly! These look just delicious. I've never deep fried anything, mostly out of fear, but partly out of a fundamental lack of self-control around all things fried!

Diana said...

Those are so cute! And sound delicious! What a great dish for a dinner party too -- I wish I had a party coming up to make them for!

Kelly said...

Oh my goodness those look yummy!! I might request some of these when I get back...wink, wink. I want to see MILK too, it looks good.

Esi said...

Hey Kel - come back for New Years and I will totally whip up a batch! wink :)

Sweetie B. said...

coxinha is Brazilian... the traditional recipe calls for Catupiry, which is somewhat between cheddar and cream cheese, and the cheese of choice for pizza toppings (without excluding mozzarella, obviously) and other traditional snacks... its common for bars to add red food coloring (colorau) to the chicken, or saffron, so its bright orange. I like mine with pepper and mayo. Yum!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

I've never seen coxinha nor tried it but am definitely intrigued. Deep-fried chicken balls? I'll probably be gobbling them by the handful.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of Coxinha before. They sound like something my husband would love. We don't do too much frying either, so I'd have to beg, borrow or steal a fryer as well.

~Cat

Spamberlove said...
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Spamberlove said...

This is a brazilian recipe and is very popular in Brazil. After living in Rio awhile I grew accustomed to getting these all of the time. Once I came back to the states, I found it very difficult to find them in any restaurant. No one seems to have ever heard of them. Thanks for mentioning them! They are pronounced: Coe - sheen - ya.
This is the brazilian version of them.
http://www.cookbrazil.com/coxinha.htm

Elisa Yumi said...

Hello! I was thinking about posting a typical Brazilian recipe in Tastespotting, but I noticed that my favorite hors d'oeuvre had been already posted. What a surprise!
I thought that the coxinha was still a dish restricted to the Brazilian comunity. By the way, coxinha means "little chicken tigh", that's why it's shaped like a drum stick!
I consider myself a "coxinhaholic". I'm still looking for the perfect coxinha.
About the sticky dough, I think you should try some recipe that uses mashed potatoes in the dpugh. And it also tastes a lot better than just flour.
By the way, to make the crust more uniform, first roll the coxinha in quickly beaten eggs, than in breadcrumbs.