Friday, May 6, 2011

Galinha Ensopada, Soupy Brazilian Chicken

Hope you all had a great Cinco de Mayo.  While you may be tired of Mexican food, hopefully you still have room for some Brazilian goodness.  My lightened up Brazilian Chicken Strognaoff recipe is one of the most viewed and searched for blog entries that I've done.  I wanted to take a stab at another Brazilian recipe and saw a picture of Galinha Ensopada and thought it looked delish! 


Galinha Ensopada (Soupy Brazilian Chicken)

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp parprika
1 can plum or diced tomatoes
1 can hearts of palm, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup green olives
3 green onions
1/4 cup cilantro
2 cups chicken broth
2 lbs chicken (I used BSC Breast, but it would probably work great with thighs as well)
Olive oil
Flour

1.  Heat pan with olive oil and season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.  Gently dredge the chicken in flour, shaking off the excess.  Then sear chicken on both sides for a couple of minutes and remove from heat.  *Let's be honest, this probably would be best with chicken thighs (bone-in and with skin on), but since I'm trying to keep it light I used boneless skinless chicken breast.*

2.  Add onion, garlic, paprika and tomatoes to pan.  Once the onion has softened, add in chicken stock and bring to a boil.

3.  Slightly reduce heat and cover and let simmer for 20-25 minutes.  Add chicken back into the pot when there is 10 minutes left to go.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

4.  At the end add in hearts of palm and olives and cook for another 5 minutes on low.   

Garnish with green onions and cilantro.  This dish is traditionally served with polenta, but it would probably also be great over rice.  I served this with the slice and bake roll of polenta.  The Brazilian and I enjoyed this dish but both agreed that chicken thighs would have made it better since the breasts did feel a little dry.  I totally love the addition of hearts of palm and olives in this chicken dish, I may or may not have stolen some hears of palm off the Brazilians plate when he wasn't looking...  :)