If we’re honest, this World Cup has been a bit of a larry letdown from our perspective. Seeing as we’re fairweather football fans (and that’s totally OK, BTW, no matter what your boyfriend and his mates say) we sort of lost interest a bit when England went out and then totally zoned out when Chile followed suit (we had them in the office sweepstake, see). Right now, though, is the one time when the World Cup gets all exciting again before bowing out for the next four years. It’s the final you see. Even though the host nation aren’t even in it any more today’s your last chance to celebrate Brazilian culture until erm, they host the Olympics in 2016. Bloody hell guys, give someone else a chance eh?
Anyways, here’s how to have your last viewing party of the world cup (sob) Brazillian style.
The Drink
Step away from the caiprinhas; God, could you be any more of a Brazilian cliché? Instead, branch out and try your hand at caipiroskas – Brazil's second most famous cocktail instead. Here’s how to make them.
Ingredients
2 Parts Grey Goose Vodka
Whole Lime
2 tsp of Demerara sugar
Method
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Cut the lime into eight pieces (make sure you trim away the pith from the middle of the fruit).
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Add the lime pieces and sugar to a glass and muddle to release the lime juice.
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For tips on muddling visit the Masterclass section of the app.
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Add the Grey Goose vodka.
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Fill the glass with cubed ice (if you don’t have an ice cuber, make your own cubed ice by covering cubed ice with a tea towel and smashing it up with a rolling pin) and give the drink a thorough stir.
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Top with a little more cubed ice.
The Food
Despite being the land that spawned Gisele, Adriana Lima, Alexandra Amnbrosio et al, Brazilian food isn’t all that good for you. Very often it’s deep fried, cheesy and meaty. Which, incidentally, are three of our favourite food-describing words. ‘coxinha’ is basically an amalgamation of all three and is essentially the Brazilian way of describing the best fucking chicken nugget you’ve ever had. Here’s a recipe below. Serve them with yucca fries.
Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
4-5 cups of chicken broth
1 carrot
2 onions
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lime
Packet of cream cheese, softened
380 grams of flour
2 eggs
380 grams of very finely grated bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
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Place the chicken breasts in a large shallow pot. Cover them with the chicken broth, adding water if necessary to make sure the chicken breasts are covered by at least 1/2" of liquid.
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Add the carrot and one of the onions (peeled and halved) as well as the bay leaves.
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Bring liquid to a gentle simmer, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through (barely pink in the middle of the thickest part). It’s necessary to cut into the chicken to tell when it is done. If some of the breasts cook more quickly, you can remove them earlier.
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Set chicken aside to cool, and strain the broth. Reserve broth.
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Shred the chicken into very small pieces. I use a food processor fitted with the plastic blade for this step, but you can also use your fingers.
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Stir the softened cream cheese and lime juice into the shredded chicken.
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Finely chop the second onion and the garlic. Sauté in 2 tablespoons of butter until golden and soft.
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Add the hot onions and garlic to the chicken mixture and stir until everything is well mixed.
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Measure the chicken broth (you will probably have about 3 1/2 cups). If you have less than three cups, add more canned chicken broth to make 3 cups. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan, and gradually stir in the same amount of flour as you have broth (so if you have 3 1/2 cups broth, add 3 1/2 cups flour).
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Stir vigorously and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mixture will become a stiff dough. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
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At this point, you can chill the chicken mixture and the dough for several hours or overnight.
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To shape the coxinhas, take a piece of the dough about the size of a golf ball with floured hands. Roll it into a ball, then hollow out the middle for the filling.
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Press a golfball size (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) piece of the chicken filling inside the ball of dough, and press the dough closed around the filling. Shape into an approximate drumstick shape, flouring hands as necessary. Stand the coxinhas on a baking sheet, so that the pointed end sticks upwards. Continue until you run out of dough or filling.
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Whisk the eggs together in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs in a shallow pan (like a cake pan) and season with salt and pepper.
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Dip the coxinhas in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs to coat. Chill the breaded coxinhas for 1 hour.
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Fill a heavy-bottomed pot with enough oil to cover the coxinhas. Heat the oil to 360 degrees. Fry the coxinhas in batches until deep golden brown.
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Serve warm.
Makes about 24 3-4 inch tall coxinhas.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.