Coxinha with pink pepper & chicken skin

Today I’m going to show you my fine dining version of a delicious Brazilian snack. A Coxinha! We’re going to make the coxinhas and serve them with a pink pepper mayo, chicken skin and on the side a beautiful sambai & chicken tapioca broth.

The Coxinha filling

2	chicken legs
	Goose fat or sunflower oil
5 cloves	garlic
1	onion
2 grams	curry
5 grams	chives
100 grams	cream cheese

Take the chicken legs and start by remove the skin. Keep the skin in your fridge for later. Now season the legs with salt on both sides. Then transfer the legs into a pan and cover them with sunflower oil or melted goose fat. Goose fat does have a lot more flavor, but it’s a bit harder to find in a normal grocery store. Now also add 3 cloves of garlic that are cut in half and then bring the oil to a simmer. Then turn down the heat to the lowest setting for around 3 hours. The chicken is done when the meat is falling off the bone. Once it’s cooked take the chicken out of the oil and clean the meat of the bones. Then set the chicken aside for later. After that take the onion, cut it in half and clean it. Now chop it. It doesn’t need to be super precise, a nice dice is fine. Then add a drizzle of oil to a hot pan and add the onion. Now take the remaining two cloves of garlic and cut it fine as well. Add them to onion and season both with some salt. Once it starts to color add the curry powder and pan fry it for another 2 minutes. Then turn off the heat. Meanwhile cut the chives fine. Don’t cut it to fine, you want to keep some texture. Add it to the pan with the confit chicken meat and the cream cheese. Now you can mix it by hand or as I prefer with a hand mixer. This saves so much time. Then cover it and let it cool down in your fridge. Once cold roll the filling into balls that are around 10 to 12 grams. Then keep them in your fridge for later.

The dough

200 grams	floury potato
260 grams	chicken stock
30 grams	butter
3 grams	salt
200 grams	flour

First peel the floury potato and then cut 160 grams into even sized pieces. Submerge them in cold water and season with a generous amount of salt. Then bring this to a boil and boil till the potatoes are fully cooked. After that drain the water and let them steam dry for 5 minutes. Once dry and still hot press the cooked potato through a fine sieve using a ladle or a spatula. Now add the chicken stock, the butter and the salt. While stirring bring this to a boil. Then add the flour and cook the mixture for 3 to 4 minutes. Be sure to keep on mixing to create a nice and even dough. Then transfer it into a bowl, cover it and let it cool down out of the fridge.

Thyme

Flour

Egg

Bread crumble

While it’s cooling down, we can make the little thyme bundles. These are option, but I think it really gives a nice touch. For this bind some sprigs of thyme together and cover the bundle twice. Be sure to use cooking rope and not any synthetic rope. This will melt when deep frying. Then take the cooled down dough and make little discs of around 15 to 17 grams. Place a chicken ball in the middle and gently form the dough together to create the signature drop shape. Be sure it’s completely airtight. Now place a thyme bundle in every Coxinha and press it together so the bundle stays in place. Then we can bread crumb them. First cover the dough with a layer of flour, then a layer of beaten egg and finally a layer of breadcrumbs. You can also use panko, but here I use breadcrumbs. I you like a thick crispy layer add another layer of egg and breadcrumbs. I only added one layer. Then keep them in your fridge for later.

The chicken skin crumble

Take the chicken skin and place it on a silicon sheet. Season it with salt and place another sheet on top. Then add another metal tray and bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for 40 to 45 minutes till golden brown and crispy. Now let it cool down and then chop it into a fine crumble. Spread it on a kitchen paper and then keep it dry and covered for later.

The pink pepper mayonnaise

40 grams	egg yolk
5 grams	pink pepper
10 grams	mustard
2 grams	wasabi
4 drops	tabasco
20 grams	lime juice
3 grams	salt
200 grams	neutral oil (I use sunflower oil)

Mix the egg yolk with the pink pepper, the mustard, the wasabi, the tabasco, the lime juice and the salt. Now blend this till smooth. Then add the neutral oil. Now blend it till fully emulsified. Then transfer it into a piping bottle and keep it in your fridge for later.

The tapioca pearls

50 grams	tapioca pearls
50 grams	ponzu
50 grams	sambaizu
20 grams	soy sauce
100 grams	chicken stock

First boil the tapioca pearls in some salted water for 10 minutes. Be sure it’s a soft boil, otherwise the pearls might break. Then drain the water and transfer the pearls into a bowl. Directly add the ponzu, the sambaizu, the soy sauce and the chicken stock. Then gently mix it and let it set in your fridge for a couple of hours. The pearls will soak up a lot of the marinade and have a beautiful rich and fresh flavor.

The chicken broth

1 liter	rich chicken stock
50 grams	ponzu
50 grams	sambaizu
20 grams	lime juice
	Soy sauce

First pour the rich chicken stock in a pan and reduce it for 50%. Then turn off the heat and add the ponzu, the sambaizu and the lime juice. Mix this and then season it with soy sauce. Mix it once more and then give it a taste for seasoning. Then pass the broth through a fine sieve. We will serve it lukewarm but keep it in your fridge for later.

How to finish the amuse

Heat up the broth and then deep fry the coxinha’s at 170 degrees Celsius till golden brown. This takes around 4 minutes. I don’t deep fry the thyme bundle because it will shrink, and it might even burn. Then pipe a big dot of the mayonnaise on a plate and sprinkle some crispy chicken skin on top. Place the Coxinha next to it. Now add a tablespoon of the tapioca to a glass of a small bowl and finish it off with the lukewarm broth.