Brazilian Chicken Fritters [Coxinha de Frango]

I always say that when we lived in Brazil if I’d known what I know now, I would have written a cookbook. I walked away from that 3 years with so many interesting food experiences, and thanks to friends there, a greater knowledge of how to prepare some of our favorite foods. 

Other than the jumbo cookbook in Portuguese that I brought back with me, I rarely come across books in English that highlight Brazilian cuisine. So when those rare occasions arise, I jump on the opportunity to get a copy. 

Churrasco: Grilling the Brazilian Way was sent to me for review a few weeks back and I’ve been mentally reliving our expat feasts since it arrived. The book is by Evandro Caregnato, Culinary Director of Texas De Brazil. 

A mini Portuguese lesson — churrasco is the word for barbecue or the grilled meat and churrascaria is the restaurant where you get that barbecue.

The first thing you should know, which the local readers of my expat blog reminded me often, is that Brazil is as diverse as any other country you’d encounter. Foods eaten in the north are not so common in the south and vice versa. You might find similar recipes, but these foods might be called something different in one state than what you find in another. You might find some favorites in one area and learn they have barely been heard of elsewhere.

So the stories I tell are 100% from my personal experiences. I certainly didn’t travel everywhere in the country (we lived in the south), but I tried to learn all I could about the varying regions from my friends there. Other people may have completely different experiences. 

This book focuses on many of the foods we enjoyed in the south of the country where there is a mix of culinary cultures that are mostly Brazilian, but a little Argentinian. (There is an excellent write up of the history in the book.) You’ll often hear the folks of this region referred to as gaucho.

We had the grand experience of attending a barbecue just like those depicted in this book. I’ll never forget that day. 

Friends told us about it, but we attended it alone. It was specifically called costela ao fogo de chão. Costela is rib, so the event involved rib meat being cooked in ground fire.

After arriving, we realized that this event may have been for some sort of membership club. Meaning you were supposed to be a member or know a member to attend. We barely spoke Portuguese at this point and were a bit embarrassed at crashing the very large party. 

Once folks started hearing our broken Portuguese any membership need vanished. We were welcomed to a table of families and we were told about all of the food around us with encouragement to eat and eat some more. 

Yard stick long skewers of meat were stabbed into the ground within a burning fire outside. Tables were full of salads and snacks to go with it all. 

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this true churrasco. We ate at plenty of churrascarias in Brazil, but that traditional outdoor event is one of my favorite experiences abroad. 

Insert here — my constant wish that I had the camera and photography skills then that I have now. Oh well. They live in my mind along with a few images like this. 

So needless to say, I am enjoying this cookbook and all the memories it brings back. As soon as I flipped through it, I knew I wanted to make the coxinha de frango (co-sheen-ya de fran-goo, or at least that is how I hear it and say it), or the chicken fritters. 

These were the kinds of snacks served at our favorite cafes. On any afternoon you could walk into one and see folks enjoying a juice and a few of these fried treats. 

Like any kind of fritter or dumpling, they take some time, but they are worth it. You’ll notice in the recipe that it directs you to roll them into a shape like the top of a drumstick. We found this shape in cafes, but we would also find oblong football shapes and round shapes. So feel free to get creative. I added a few different shapes to my spread. And while bouillon was prominent when we lived in Brazil, I opted to add a little concentrated chicken broth and salt to the dough instead because I couldn’t find any bouillon here without MSG. 

I’m sharing the recipe for these goodies with you below. The book leaves so much more to explore, from meats and marinades to farofa (toasted cassava flour) to pudim (flan). I started this blog when we were still living in Brazil, so if you’ve been reading that long, you’ve probably heard me mention some of these foods before. 

If you have an interest in Brazilian cuisine or have simply become a fan of Texas de Brazil, this is a great book for your kitchen. 

From the book:  This is a great savory snack molded to look like a chicken drumstick. Allegedly, this dish was created during the Brazilian monarchy era to satisfy the voracious appetite of a spoiled noble child for chicken drumsticks. When the cook for the royal family realized that she didn’t have chicken legs, she shredded some leftover chicken, formed it into a drumstick-like fritter, and convinced the boy that it was a boneless drumstick. It worked so well that soon everyone in the court was eating them. Eventually, this snack became a favorite among the common folk. In many parts of Brazil, you can still find street boys carrying baskets of these coxinhas and selling them in front of office buildings or construction sites. Kids love them so much that they are always present at birthday parties. It requires a little practice to fold and fill the dough, but once you have done this a few times, it gets easier and quicker. The drumsticks also freeze well, so you can make an extra batch to defrost and serve for last-minute guests or as a weekend snack for the family.
 

Ingredients

For the dough:
4 cups (960 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (15 g) butter
1 chicken bouillon cube, or 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder
Salt
4 cups (480 g) all-purpose flour

For the filling:
1⁄2 lb (230 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
1⁄2 small yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 small tomato, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

For the coating:
2 eggs
1⁄2 cup (120 ml) milk
2 cups breadcrumbs or Panko crumbs

Vegetable oil, for frying

Preparation

To make the dough, add the milk, butter, and chicken bouillon to a large stockpot and bring to a boil over medium heat. It should taste like a creamy chicken broth. If necessary, increase the amount of bouillon and salt for balance and taste. Reduce to a low heat, slowly add the flour, and stir with a wire whisk for about 4 minutes. The dough is ready when it thickens and you can see the bottom of the pot when scraping it with a spatula. Transfer the dough to a pan or bowl, and keep it at room temperature until ready to use.

To make the filling, season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. If the chicken breasts are very thick, cut them in half. Heat the 2 tablespoons oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, and sauté the chicken pieces until golden. Add the onion and garlic, cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, and add the chopped tomato. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove the chicken pieces and shred the meat finely by hand. Add the chicken back to the sauce along with the parsley and stir, adding salt to taste. o assemble the drumsticks, use your hands to form a golf-ball-sized amount of dough into a small pancake about 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) thick. Place 1 tablespoon of the chicken filling in the center of the dough and wrap tightly around the filling, forming it into the pear-like shape of a chicken drumstick. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling; set aside.

For the fritter coating, beat the eggs and milk in a bowl. Pour the breadcrumbs into a different bowl. Dip a fritter into the egg mixture, letting the excess drain back into the bowl, then roll it in the breadcrumbs, coating evenly. Repeat until all the fritters are coated. Heat 3 inches of oil to 350°F in a pot or electric fryer. Fry a few fritters at a time until the crumb coating turns golden brown. Remove the fritters from the oil and drain on paper towels before serving.

If freezing the fritters for future use, store after coating with breadcrumbs. Let the fritters defrost to room temperature before frying them.