If there is a soup that reminds me of my childhood is Canja. Canja is a very traditional comfort food in Brazil, that kind of food that our grandma or mom would make when we are feeling under the weather
I thought this was another dish of Portuguese origins but doing a little research, I discovered that Portugal probably got inspired by one of it’s colonies at the time – Goa, in south western India. The original dish is called Kanji, which means rice with water. The Portuguese added chicken and vegetables and made that perfect recipe for a cold day when we just need some hot cozy food <3.
As you can see, I LOOOOVE Canja. Being one of the few dishes that my mom used to cook for us, I have the taste in my heart, but I have no idea how she used to make it since unfortunately, we didn’t use to spend a lot of time in the kitchen as kids.
So I did the recipe without asking my mom for any tip, just with what I remember from it (and with what I have learned until now at George Brown*), to see how close I could get to that amazing flavor that is so dear to me.
CHICKEN CANJA (A.K.A. CANJA DE GALINHA)
{time: 1h 30m | yield: 8 portions of 300 ml + 1 drumstick}
INGREDIENTS
1 large potato (around 450g)
3 carrots (around 450g)
3.5L water
1 bay leaf
1 boneless and skinless chicken breast (around 500g)
2 tbsp olive oil
8 drumsticks
2 onions (around 150 g each)
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup of white long grain rice
Salt
Black Pepper
DIRECTIONS
Wash all the vegetables. Peel the potato and carrots (don’t discard the trims!). Peel and cut one of the onions in 4.
Put the potato and carrots trims in a pan with the onion (cut in 4), chicken breasts, bay leaf, ½ tbsp of salt and 2.5L of water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 1 hour.
While the chicken breasts are cooking, cut the carrots and potato. Cut the other onion in small pieces, peel and crush the garlic.
If a layer of a foam appears, just skim a little bit (like the photo).
After 50 minutes, take out the chicken breasts and shred it. Strain the broth from the breast cooking and reserve. (you will have around 1.5L of broth).
In medium heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil, let it warm up, cook both sides of your chicken thighs until golden and reserve (it’s going to form a layer that may look like it’s burnin in the bottom of the pan, but this is pure flavor that is going to be key in our soup <3).In the same pan, add the other 1 tbsp of olive oil and cook the onion until translucent for about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the carrots and the potato and cook for about 2-3 minutes, add the shredded chicken breast, the tomato paste mix all together, add the chicken thighs and the broth that was reserved and 1L of water. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 30/35 minutes.
After this time, taste for salt and pepper, add 1 cup of rice and let it cook for 15 more minutes and it’s ready!
The soup turned out amazing and so beautiful! And the smell in the house, while I was cooking was indescribable!
It has that light but comfort flavor – a little bit of fat, a little bit of love, a little bit of salt, hehe – a perfect recipe for this winter in Toronto for sure!
I know that this is a recipe that demand a little bit of time, but I swear it is totally worth it!
Ps: usually I use 4 cloves of garlic to make this recipe, but the garlic I bought was so big that I used just 2 this time. (but if you have a regular sizer garlic, I really recommend the 4 cloves of it <3).
* I’m studying Culinary Management – Nutrition in George Brown College (and I’m loving it!)
REFERENCE:
http://dougnahistoria.blogspot.ca/2012/04/canja-do-imperador-bom-apetite.html
http://passadocurioso.blogspot.ca/2009/02/canja-de-galinha.html