Brazilian · main

Xinxim de Galinha

Xinxim de Galinha reads umami 7.8, richness 6.5 and nutty 5.2 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Brazilian main, about 2 hr. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.8 · Richness 6.5 · Nutty 5.2 · Salinity 5.1 · Citrus 4.3 · Sourness 4.1 · Allium 3.9 · Marine & Briny 3.4 · Herbaceous 2.7 · Sweetness 2.2 · Warm Spice 2.2 · Heat 2.1 · Earthy 1.6 · Funk & Ferment 1.5 · Bitterness 1.2 · Floral 0.8 · Fruity 0.7

What's in it (14)

Time & effort: about 2 hr (1 hr active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 131.1 kcal, 12.6 g protein, 7.2 g fat, 4.5 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

  1. Xinxim is Afro-Bahian cooking at its most legible: chicken, dried shrimp, ground nuts and dendê, with ginger doing the lifting. It is a food of Candomblé, offered to Oxum, and it is cooked in homes in Salvador on any Sunday.
  2. Azeite de dendê is unrefined red palm oil and it is not interchangeable with the refined white palm oil in industrial food, nor with any other oil. Its colour, its faintly violet-carrot smell and its viscosity are the dish. Buy it in a Brazilian, West African or Caribbean grocer, where it sits in tall bottles the colour of a sunset, and use it with a light hand — four tablespoons is right, half a cup is a common mistake that makes the dish greasy and medicinal.
  3. Rub the chicken with the lime juice, the grated onion, half the garlic, the salt and pepper and marinate 1 hour.
  4. Toast the cashews and peanuts in a dry pan over medium heat for 5 minutes until golden, then grind them with the dried shrimp in a food processor to a coarse damp meal. Some cooks soak the shrimp first; if yours are very salty, soak them 15 minutes and drain.
  5. Heat 2 tbsp of the dendê in a wide heavy pan over medium-high and brown the chicken pieces in batches, 4 minutes a side. They will take a deep orange colour rather than a Maillard brown. Set them aside.
  6. Lower the heat, add the diced onion and cook 8 minutes until soft, then the remaining garlic, the ginger and the malagueta for 2 minutes more, until the ginger smells sharp and green.
  7. Stir in the shrimp and nut meal and fry it for 4 minutes, scraping constantly — it catches easily and burnt shrimp is bitter. Return the chicken with the stock, cover and simmer 30 minutes, until the sauce is thick enough to hold the mark of a spoon and the chicken is tender at the bone.
  8. Finish with the last 2 tbsp of dendê stirred in off the heat, which keeps its colour bright, and the cilantro. Serve with white rice and, if you want the full Bahian plate, farofa.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.