Chicken cooked in its own blood (galinha à cabidela or galinha de cabidela)

A few years back in Rio I was in a farmhouse where I tasted the most flavorful, heavenly and  delicious meal I ever had!!!
Its called galinha à cabidela or to us Gringos its Chicken cooked in its own blood!!! Not for the faint hearted (or veggies) out there, before you inform the RSPCA on me I can reassure you I have not prepared this dish the traditional way at home....mainly because I could never slaughter a live chicken, I would simple bond with it and be best of friends but there is a way around this (no...no ACME roadrunner type products) I have since learnt I can use Black pudding (with a high blood count if possible) as a substitute for the raw chicken blood and use a pre-plucked supermarket (or better still, farmer's market) chicken or even better still get some chicken livers from morrisons and drain off the blood and liquidise some of the livers.

 RECIPE - Chicken Cabidela
Serves 4

1 large roasting chicken - 3.5 lbs. (1.5 kgs) - cut into serving pieces
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sweet paprika powder
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup neutral vegetable oil
2 chopped large tomatoes
1 chopped and seeded green bell pepper
2 chopped medium onions
1/2 cup chopped Coriander
1/2 cup chopped green onion, green portion only
1 cup chicken blood (with 2 Tbsp. vinegar added to prevent coagulation) Or see my solution above
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Season the chicken pieces with the salt, paprika and pepper to taste. Place chicken in large heavy saucepan, add just enough water to cover, bring to boil over medium high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken is just tender but not falling off the bone. Remove from heat and reserve.

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan, add the tomatoes, green pepper, onions, coriander, green onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Do not let the onions and garlic brown.

In the large sauce pan, combine the sauteed vegetables with the reserved chicken and "blood". Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and let cook for 10 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces from the broth and reserve. Continue to cook the "blood" over medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes, or until it slightly reduces and thickens into a sauce.

Reduce heat to low, add the chicken blood to the sauce, and cook for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the cornstarch with the egg yolk, lightly beaten. Off heat, slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce to prevent lumps, stirring constantly. Return the sauce to heat briefly to thicken and to remove starchy taste. Then add the reserved chicken pieces, heat thoroughly and serve immediately.

Now if you are braver than me and want to make this real...then...

1. It’s best to have 3 people to slaughter the chicken; One to hold the chicken down. One to slice the neck, and the other to capture the blood. Once the blood is finished draining, the chicken will likely stop moving. (As we needed to collect the blood, we didn’t allow it to run around. The chicken is still alive for a few minutes after you cut its head off, hence the famous expression:  ’Running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off”.

 

2. Drain the blood in a jar with finger of white vinegar to sterilize and add flavor. 

3. Boil water in a large pot. Dunk the chicken in the hot water to loosen the feathers. Carefully pluck them, slowly but sternly so you don’t rip all the skin. It’s best to do it one feather at a time.

 

4. Clean away any dirt from the feet, and the outer layer of yellow skin.

 

5. Hold the chicken over an open flame to scorch off any remaining hairs.

 

6. Begin to break down the carcass, beginning at the waste hole (butt hole, if you will, I don’t know how to say this nicely). Cut into it going vertically from the bottom to the neck, being careful to avoid cutting the waste bag or piercing any of the inside digestive organs. Remove inedible organs like the intestines (you’ll want to keep the stomach, bang it with the knife to loosen the contents, cut it open and clean it out, peel away the outside blue-purple skin —this was my favorite part to eat, very tender, then livers and the heart which I think are more familiar to most). There is a bright green bag that you should discard and take care to avoid puncturing.  if you puncture this sac, you will have ruined the whole chicken. Once all the insides are out, it begins to look a lot like a chicken you can find in Chinatown.

 

7. When breaking down the meat, be sure each piece has bone left on it, to ensure there is the most flavor, even breaking bones if necessary. For example, the breasts she cut in half, leaving the ribs attached.

 

8. Cover broken down chicken with vinegar, salt and warm water, drain, then cover with cold water.

 

9. Slice two onions and begin to fry slowly in a large pot. Drain the chicken and pat dry, add a few splashes of vinegar (this is used to disinfect over and over through the process, but also adds flavor). Toss the chicken with salt, white pepper, black pepper, 7 crushed garlic cloves, and a few bay leaves.

 

10. When the onions begin to soften and brown slightly, add the chicken to the pot. Once browned, cover with water, cover the pot and allow to cook for an hour or so on medium low heat (the water should be simmering, not boiling).

 

11. remove chicken from cooking liquid, add rice. if you need more water to cook the rice, add it, and season. Once rice is almost cooked (10-15 minutes later) add the chicken back in, stir in the blood and cook slowly until the rice has finished cooking. (The blood is pretty crucial to the recipe. It adds a cinnamon flavor and richness to the dish, similar to blood sausage. The meat itself was very tender; we killed the chicken and ate it the same day.)

 

If you can do this then by all means, invite me to dinner, but I shall tell you now...You will never be pet-sitting my parrot when I go on holiday ;-)