By Chef Paulo Machado – in reference to Paraguayan cuisine and gastronomic journey.
Winter dish in Paraguay, the bori-bori chicken is a stew of the bird with paprika, whose sauce takes balls made of cornmeal and cheese. The delicious dish is very common between the months of June and July in Asunción, when the days are cooler. Paraguayan Teresita O’Hara, director of the O’Hara Gastronomia group, is an expert in the preparation of bori-bori: with her I participate in Sapucay, a study group on South American cuisine (sapucay, in Guarani, means “cry ”Characteristic of chamamé dances).
BORI BORI CHICKEN
Ingredients
• 1 kg of chicken drumstick
• 10 ml of olive oil
• 20 g diced bacon
• 1/2 onion cut in four
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 25 g of diced celery
• 25 g of diced carrot
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• chopped chives to taste
• soy oil enough
• enough water
• fresh chili pepper to taste
For the balls:
• 1.5 kg of yellow cornmeal
• 40 g of grated parmesan
• 130 g diced onion
• 10 g of clarified butter
• 5 eggs
• paprika to taste
• chopped parsley to taste
• salt to taste
Way of preparing
In a medium saucepan, sauté the bacon in olive oil until its fat loosens. Add the chicken, seasoned with the black pepper, and brown it. Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic, bay leaf, cloves and salt and sauté quickly. Cover with water and cook until the chicken meat is tender.
Strain the bottom (broth) that forms and set it aside. In a separate bowl, mix the cornmeal, parmesan, onion and salt. Make a hole in the center of the dough, add the butter and eggs and mix until you get a homogeneous dough. Let stand for 30 minutes.
Make small balls with the dough. Cook them in the chicken cooking broth until they are tender. Add the paprika and chicken meat and cook for another 15 minutes. As the cornmeal balls are cooking, the broth will become thicker. Lower the heat, correct the seasoning and serve. The dish pays for up to 4 people.
This delicacy makes up the menu of some of our Food Safaris expeditions.
