One of the most well loved Brazilian snacks is the Coxinha that’s made from shredded chicken,  spices and, sometimes, a little Catupiry-style cheese enclosed in a batter of potato or manioc flour and deep fried. It’s usually shaped to look like a chicken drumstick but very often turns into a dwarf’s pointed cap – a toothpick is inserted so that one can pick it up to eat it. They were originally made with chicken thighs, hence the name because the translated word means chicken thigh – today this is not the case. The batter to make the dough is usually prepared with the chicken stock to improve the taste. Catupiry cheese is one of the

most popular cream cheese (requeijão) brands in Brazil and was created by Mario Silvestrini, an Italian immigrant in 1911. The name comes from the Tupi-Guarani word meaning excellent. It’s soft, mild and can be spread over bread or used for cooking.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken fillets or equivalent amount of chicken
• 250 g Catupiry cream cheese
• 700 g all-purpose flour
• Fresh white bread crumb as needed
• 2 eggs
• ½ chopped onion
• Few spring onions
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and pureed
• 1 large, un-waxed lemon, juice and zest
• 1 tsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 180 ml butter
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly made chicken stock

Method

• Boil a whole chicken or 3 really large chicken breasts with bones and skin, salt and pepper to taste in a little water until just cooked.
• Remove from water (but don’t discard the water), chop into pieces and then add the garlic, the chopped onion, the butter, the lemon zest, the lemon juice, a tsp of sugar and season to taste.
• Add a small amount of the chicken stock and cook until the chicken is quite soft, can be shredded and the liquid has evaporated completely.
• Shred the chicken finely and mix with the parsley, the spring onions and the fresh coriander leaves.
• Bring 750 ml of the chicken stock to the boil and add 750 ml flour to the liquid, stirring briskly with a spoon until it turns into a dough – remove from the pot and once cooled down a little, knead until the dough becomes smooth and there are no lumps.
• Flatten the dough with a rolling pin to about ½ cm and cut out medium sized circles with a biscuit cutter.
• Put the dough in the palm of your hand, place a small cube of cream cheese and a teaspoon of chicken filling in the middle – make sure that the ingredients are measured out in accordance with the size of the dough so that it can be closed with the filling inside.
• If there are any scraps, knead again and re-roll them, making circles as needed until the chicken has been used u.
• Fold and close the dough in a shape of a drum stick (or a dwarf’s pointy cap) and, if necessary, grease you hands to do so.
• Deep fry on medium to low heat so that they become golden and crunchy and don’t colour before the dough has cooked.
• Place in baking cups and serve with guaraná.