Destination
Rio de Janeiro
The story
Coxinha is Brazil's national bar snack: a teardrop-shaped parcel of dough stuffed with shredded chicken and (usually) catupiry, a soft Brazilian cream cheese, breaded and deep-fried until deep gold and crackly. The name means "little thigh" and the shape is meant to echo a chicken drumstick, a nod to the (probably apocryphal) origin story: created in the late 1800s for the child of Princesa Isabel, who ate nothing but chicken thighs, when the cook ran out of thighs and improvised with shredded meat wrapped in dough.
Method
In a large saucepan, combine the chicken, quartered onion, garlic, bay leaf and stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and poach 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Lift out; reserve the poaching liquid. Cool the chicken, then shred finely with two forks.
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan. Sweat the finely diced onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Add the shredded chicken, parsley, a good pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Stir to combine, then take off the heat. Cool completely.
In a saucepan, bring 500ml of the warm reserved poaching liquid to a simmer with the butter and salt. When the butter has melted, add all the flour at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a smooth ball that pulls away from the sides. Turn out onto a clean bench and knead until smooth. Cool until just warm.
Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough. Flatten in the palm of one hand into a disc about 8cm across. Spoon a teaspoon of filling and a small dollop of catupiry into the centre. Fold the edges up around the filling, pinch closed at the top, and shape the top into a pointed peak so it looks like a teardrop or a small pear. Repeat with the rest.
Dip each coxinha in the beaten egg, letting excess drip off, then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat completely. Arrange on a tray. Chill 30 minutes to firm up.
Heat the oil in a deep pot to 175°C (350°F). Fry the coxinhas in batches of 4 or 5 for 3 to 4 minutes, turning gently, until deep gold all over. Don't crowd the pot.
Lift onto kitchen paper, rest 1 minute, and serve immediately with a cold beer or a wedge of lime.
Tips
- Reserve the poaching liquid. The dough is what makes a coxinha not a croquette, and using the chicken stock instead of water gives the shell a subtle savoury note that carries the whole dish.
- Cool the filling before shaping. Warm filling melts the catupiry into a puddle and makes the dough sticky. Both should be at room temperature or cooler.
- The teardrop shape takes practice. Wet your hands lightly if the dough sticks. The classic peak is optional if you find it fiddly: a rounded top still tastes right.
- Chill before frying. Thirty minutes in the fridge sets the breadcrumb coating so it doesn't slough off in the oil, and helps the coxinha keep its shape.
- Fry hot and don't crowd. 175°C is the sweet spot. Below that they soak up oil and go greasy; above that the crust colours before the middle heats through.
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