It was time to make another international dish in our household! This time, a friend, Faythe, chose Brazil for us. After a little research, galinhada became an obvious YES!
One of the steps was to put the saffron threads in hot water to let them dissolve and make saffron water. I’ve never done that before, but I’m certainly willing to do it!
The recipe called for five threads, but I don’t know if I will EVER use five measly threads of saffron for an entire dinner! I used a few more.
I put plenty of cumin on both sides of the chicken, plus salt and pepper.
While the chicken came to room temperature (for even cooking, I read), I diced a bell pepper and white onion into small pieces.
I seared the chicken, starting with skin side. It was already smelling amazing!
I took the chicken out and put the veggies in, sautéing until the onion was translucent. I added some garlic…
And then finally put the rice in for a few minutes.
I was only supposed to add one bay leaf, but they were old. I should really buy new ones… I also added the saffron water and a bit of tomato paste. I really like the tomato paste that comes in a squeeze tube. Every time I use the cans, I feel so wasteful!
Finally, I added chicken broth and put the seared chicken on top to boil.
On goes the lid and we wait.
Oh, there was a half cup of wine that I added when I added the rice! Diced tomatoes came in last, adding some nice color.
This is not a small pan, friends. I mean, how big of pans do people have?!?
When it was done, it was very comforting and good. The best part was the chicken, however. So tasty! To be honest, if I make this again, I’ll make the rice a little differently. Shockingly, we couldn’t taste the saffron! But, that’s easily remedied next time. It was still good!
Here are some interesting things that I read about Brazil: Prisoners in Brazil get four days off their sentence for every book they read. Sex change surgeries are free under their public health system. Their capital, Rio de Janeiro, was actually Portugal’s capital for a while… You know, Portugal in Europe. How crazy is that!?
It was fun making this dish, and I look forward to the next one!
The Happy Viking 