Little Brazil Restaurant, Collins Ave, Miami North Beach, FL
What is a coxinha?
The coxinha Is a Brazilian dish (pronounced co-shee-nya) is a popular food in Brazil, consisting of a dough shaped in the form of a chicken leg and usually filled with shredded chicken and deep fried.
It is served at parties, bars, street fairs and in coffee shops and bakeries. Coxinha comes in many different sizes, from cocktail minis to large coxinhas that can substitute as a meal.
Coxinha
For the filling
1.5 lbs chicken
2 medium onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 package of cream cheese (room temperature)
3 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
For the dough
1 large potato
2.5 cups of the chicken broth
1 cube of chicken bouillon
2 Tbsp salted butter
2.5 cups of all purpose flour
Breadcrumbs
Bowl of almost freezing water
Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Cook the chicken and the potato in 8 cups of water and 1 cube of chicken bouillon. Once the potato and the chicken are fork tender, take them out and reserve 2.5 cups of the broth for the dough.
- Mash the potato and reserve.
- In a food processor, shred the chicken. Reserve.
- Bring the broth back to the pot and add the mashed potatoes and the butter. When it boils, add the flour a little at a time, stirring constantly, until it forms a dough.
- Knead the dough while it’s still warm, until silky and smooth.
- To make the filling, sauté the onions and garlic until translucent and the add the chicken, poultry seasoning and the parsley. Mix everything together and season with salt and pepper. Add the cream cheese and cook until the cream cheese is melted and everything is incorporated.
- To make your coxinhas, take a little piece of the dough and form a ping pong sized ball. Flatten it into a disc, hollowing up the middle for the filling.
- Spoon a tablespoon of the filling into the middle of the dough.
- Press the dough closed around the filling, shaping it like a teardrop.
- Continue until you run out of dough.
- To coat your coxinhas with breadcrumbs, first wet one of your hands with cold water and pass it on the coxinha. Then, coat the coxinha with breadcrumbs. Set it aside in a baking sheet and continue to coat all your coxinhas.
- Fill a saucepan with enough vegetable oil to cover the coxinhas.
- Heat the oil and fry your coxinhas in batches, until they’re golden brown.
- Place the fried coxinhas on a plate covered with paper towels so the paper towels can absorb the excess oil.
- Serve your coxinhas warm with some hot sauce, accompanied by some ice cold beer.
If you are eager to get really hungry you can see the rest of our food blog posts!
