Brazilian street food coxinhas Recipe

In Brazil you can find this almost everywhere, it is a very popular street food, the recipe changes from region to region slightly, but for me it has to be my mums or Aunties they are the queens of coxinha. As most Brazilian recipes, its not quick, but the results are worth the effort. trust me. Takes about 3:30 hours to make, this recipe will feed about 6 hungry people.

Ingredients

1. 1 x whole chicken
2. 1 litre of Chicken stock
3. 750 g of flour
4. 1 x carrot
5. 1 x onion
6. Parsley
7. 2 x tablespoons butter
8. 2 x cloves garlic
9. Juice of ½ lime
10. 2 x eggs
11. 3 cups bread crumbs (Shop bought will do)
12. 1 desert spoon of flour
13. ½ teaspoon of tomato puree
14. 2 litres of Vegetable oil
15. Salt and Black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cut your chicken into pieces, (Legs, Thighs, Breast (cut the breast into smaller pieces) and cut the rest of the carcass into quarters).
2. To a pan on high heat add some oil and cook the all of the chicken for a few minutes until it has some colour.
3. Add half chopped onions, chopped carrot and 1 whole garlic clove and cook it for another couple of minutes.
4. Add just over a litre of boiling water to the pan.
5. * I cook mine in a pressure cooker, it takes about 30 min. If you don't have one cook it for about an hour or until chicken is very tender.
6. * the liquid can be used as the stock or just use chicken cubes.
7. Check to see if breast is cooked, if it is, remove the chicken let it cool and save the stock.
8. While waiting for the chicken to cool down, start on the dough.
9. Add 1 litre of stock to a pan and bring it to the boil. Add 2 table spoons of olive oil. Add some salt, even if it seems like it has enough salt. Add the flour bit by bit and continuously mixing it with a heavy wooden spoon. Fold it with the spoon and press the dough with the back of the spoon, cook it for 5 minutes, the dough will become smooth and not stick to the pan walls.
10. Turn it into a work surface or a bowl to cool down, until its cool enough to handle. (you might have to work the dough a bit to get it nice and smooth).
11. While you wait for the dough to cool down, start on the chicken sauce.
12. Shred the chicken and extract the cooked meat from the carcass.
13. To a pan on high heat add some olive oil, half chopped onion and 1 chopped garlic clove, cook it for 1 minute.
14. Add the shredded chicken, a small squeeze of tomato puree, just for colour and cook it for 2 minutes. Add salt and black pepper to taste, spring onions, parsley and the juice of half lime.
15. Dilute a desert spoon of flour into a half a cup of cold water and add it to the chicken mixture, cook it for another 2-3 minutes that will keep your chicken mix moist. Take it off the heat and let it cool.
16. Now back to the dough, on an un-floured work surface kneed the dough for about 10 minutes, it will become smooth, let it rest for 10 minutes.

Assembly

1. Break small Golf ball sized chunk out of the dough.
2. Flatten the dough ball using the palm of your hands, try to keep it at a uniform thickness, not too thick, not too thin.
3. Add a small amount of chicken to the centre of the flattened dough ( teaspoon).
4. Now bring up the sides, and squeeze the top, forming a tear drop shape, make sure there are no holes and set them on a tray make all of it. (better to get some help).
5. Last step is to coat them, beat the 2 eggs, add a bit of salt and black pepper.
6. Add the bread crumbs to another plate.
7. With one hand, dip the coxinhas into the egg coat them well, with the same hand drop the coxinha onto the breadcrumbs plate, use your clean hand to role the coxinha onto the breadcrumbs, place the coxinhas back onto the tray. (quicker to get it done, if you have help).
8. Once all of them are done, we can start cooking.
9. Fill heavy bottomed pan with vegetable oil, the oil should be around 180C.
10. Drop 5-6 coxinhas at the time, cook them for 3 minutes or until golden brown (if the oil starts to spit, check the coxinhas, the chance is one of them has split, remove it from the pan), take them out and drain them on some kitchen towel.
11. Server it warm, enjoy it.