Coxinhas

Name: Coxinhas
Cook time: 114 min
Total time: 114 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Brasileña
Ingredients: 280 g Wheat flour; 30 g Butter; 2 u Egg; 1 u Onion; 3 cloves Garlic; Salt; 1 pinch Black pepper; 1 l Sunflower Oil; 1 tablespoon Tomato Puree; 1 u Bay Leaf; 2 tablespoons Parsley; 2 u Spring Onions; 150 g Breadcrumbs; 500 g Chicken Breast; 150 g Cream Cheese; 800 ml Water

Hard

Contains allergens

Cereales con glutenLecheHuevos

Incomplete allergen information: some ingredients have not been reviewed yet. Always check the labels before cooking.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 114 min
Servings: 6

Summary

Brazil's best-loved teardrop croquettes: a soft dough cooked in the chicken's own stock, filled with shredded chicken and cream cheese, coated in breadcrumbs and fried until golden and crisp.

Ingredients

6 servings

Add to Bring!

280 g Wheat flour
30 g Butter
2 u Egg (beaten, for coating)
1 u Onion (half for the stock, half finely chopped for the filling)
3 cloves Garlic (one for the stock, two chopped for the filling)
Salt (to taste)
1 pinch Black pepper
1 l Sunflower Oil (for deep-frying, plus 1 tbsp for the filling)
1 tablespoon Tomato Puree (optional)
1 u Bay Leaf
2 tablespoons Parsley (chopped)
2 u Spring Onions (green part only, chopped)
150 g Breadcrumbs
500 g Chicken Breast
150 g Cream Cheese (or requeijão cremoso)
800 ml Water (for poaching the chicken and making the stock)

Instructions

Put the water, chicken breast, half the onion, one crushed garlic clove, the bay leaf and a teaspoon of salt in a pan. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through (75 °C in the thickest part).
25 min
Lift out the chicken and strain the stock. Measure 500 ml for the dough, topping up with water if needed. Shred the chicken finely with two forks.
5 min
For the filling, heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and soften the other half of the onion and the two chopped garlic cloves. Add the chicken, tomato purée, salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Off the heat, stir in the cream cheese, parsley and spring onion. Spread it on a plate and leave to cool completely.
10 min
For the dough, bring the 500 ml of stock and the butter to the boil in a saucepan. Taste and add salt if needed. Tip in the flour all at once and beat hard with a wooden spoon over low heat until it forms a ball that comes away from the sides.
4 min
Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled worktop. As soon as you can handle it without burning yourself, knead until smooth and elastic. Cover with cling film so it does not form a skin.
10 min
With lightly oiled hands, take a piece the size of a large walnut (about 40 g), flatten it in your palm into a cup and add a tablespoon of filling. Bring the dough up over the top, pinch to seal and shape into a teardrop with a flat base so it stands up.
30 min
Dip each coxinha in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs, pressing so they stick well. Set them on a tray.
10 min
Heat the oil in a deep pan to 170-180 °C. Fry the coxinhas in small batches, turning them, until deep golden, about 4 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.
20 min

Notes

Coxinha means 'little thigh' in Portuguese: the teardrop shape is meant to look like a chicken drumstick, and it is the star snack of bars, bakeries and birthday parties all over Brazil. There the filling uses requeijão cremoso, a mild spreadable cheese (Catupiry is the best-known brand); ordinary cream cheese works very well. The filling must be cold and free of loose liquid, or the coxinhas will split in the fryer. Fry at 170-180 °C: any cooler and the dough soaks up oil and bursts; any hotter and they brown on the outside before they heat through. Never fill the pan more than a third full of oil and never leave hot oil unattended. To freeze, open-freeze them breaded and raw on a tray, then transfer to a bag; they keep for 3 months and can be fried from frozen at about 165 °C for a couple of minutes longer. Once fried they keep for 2 days in the fridge; reheat them in the oven, not the microwave.