Chef Juliana
Açaí com Camarão do Pará
You think açaí belongs with banana and granola because that's the version that traveled. In Pará, thick unsweetened açaí sits beside shrimp, rice, and farinha. Anota aí: same fruit, different meal.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Frango com Ora-pro-nóbis
Created by
You don't need a special hand for this pot. Brown the chicken, build the refogado, add ora-pro-nóbis at the end, and dinner suddenly looks like it knew what it was doing.
Main Dishes
Brazilian
Weeknight
Comfort Food
One Pot
20 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
You might look at a bunch of ora-pro-nóbis and think, quietly, isso não é pra mim. A thorny leaf from Minas, a name in Latin, people calling it PANC like dinner needs a badge. No. It's a leaf. A good one, yes, but still a leaf. A gente can cook a leaf.
I like this kind of food because it takes the pê-efe seriously: rice, beans, a piece of chicken, and something green, all on the same honest plate. That isn't filler. That's the formula that has kept Brazilian homes fed with intelligence, thrift, and flavor. Comida de verdade doesn't need a packet whispering fake seasoning into the pot.
The method is simple, and anota aí because this is where recipes que funcionam earn their name. Dry the chicken so it browns instead of boils. Give the onion time to murchar, soft and sweet, before the garlic goes in. Simmer the chicken until it loosens from the bone, then add the ora-pro-nóbis last so it stays green and slightly silky instead of disappearing into the sauce.
Cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado. I learned that the embarrassing way, with burned onions and undercooked chicken and a cheap notebook full of corrections. This pot is kinder than that. It teaches you while it feeds you.
Ora-pro-nóbis, Pereskia aculeata, is a leaf from a climbing cactus long used in Minas Gerais, often grown as a thorny living fence before it lands in the pot. Sabará, especially the district of Pompéu, helped turn the leaf into a regional emblem with its Festival do Ora-pro-nóbis, held since the late 1990s. The name means "pray for us" in Latin, and one common story ties it to leaves picked from church hedges while prayers were being said.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
Quantity
1 1/2 pounds
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
lime juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon
oil or lard
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
4 cloves
minced
ripe tomato
Quantity
1 small
chopped
sweet paprika or colorau
Quantity
1 teaspoon
bay leaf
Quantity
1
hot water
Quantity
1 cup, plus more as needed
fresh ora-pro-nóbis leaves
Quantity
3 packed cups
washed and roughly torn
parsley or scallions (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks | 1 1/2 pounds |
| salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| lime juice | 1 tablespoon |
| oil or lard | 2 tablespoons |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| garlicminced | 4 cloves |
| ripe tomatochopped | 1 small |
| sweet paprika or colorau | 1 teaspoon |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| hot water | 1 cup, plus more as needed |
| fresh ora-pro-nóbis leaveswashed and roughly torn | 3 packed cups |
| parsley or scallions (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4-liter pot with lid
- •Tongs
- •Wooden spoon
- •Measuring cups and spoons
Instructions
- 1
Season the chicken
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season it with the salt, pepper, and lime juice. Let it sit while you chop the onion, garlic, and tomato. Dry skin and dry surface matter because wet chicken hits the pot and steams before it can dourar, and then you get pale meat sitting in its own liquid wondering where dinner went.
- 2
Brown in batches
Warm the oil or lard in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in one layer, skin side down if using skin-on pieces, and brown until deep golden on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Work in batches if needed. Crowd the pot and the temperature drops, the chicken releases water, and you boil it grey instead of building flavor.
Don't fuss with the chicken too early. When it has browned properly, it releases more easily from the bottom of the pot. If it's sticking hard, give it another minute. - 3
Build the refogado
Move the browned chicken to a plate and lower the heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pot and cook, stirring and scraping the brown bits from the bottom, until it goes soft, shiny, and see-through, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, just until you can smell it. The onion sweetens the sauce, the garlic perfumes it, and burnt garlic is bitter enough to boss the whole pot around.
- 4
Cook the tomato
Add the tomato, colorau, and bay leaf. Cook until the tomato collapses and the oil looks reddish at the edges, about 3 minutes. This little pause matters because raw tomato tastes sharp and watery; cooked into the refogado, it becomes sauce.
- 5
Simmer the chicken
Return the chicken and any juices to the pot. Pour in 1 cup hot water, stir once, and scrape the bottom again. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and simmer gently until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. The liquid should bubble calmly, not thrash. Too hard a boil tightens the meat and dries it before the sauce has a chance to get good.
- 6
Finish with leaves
Taste the sauce and adjust the salt. Add the ora-pro-nóbis leaves and fold them through the chicken. Cook uncovered for 3 to 5 minutes, just until the leaves murchar, turn a deeper green, and lightly thicken the sauce with their natural silkiness. Add them too early and they lose their color and courage. Last is the whole point.
- 7
Rest and serve
Turn off the heat, sprinkle parsley or scallions if using, and let the pot rest for 5 minutes before serving. The sauce settles, the chicken drinks a little back in, and the plate behaves better. Serve with arroz soltinho, feijão from scratch, and a spoonful of the green sauce over the rice. That's dinner solved.
Chef Tips
- •Use bone-in chicken if you can. It gives the sauce more body and forgives a few extra minutes on the stove. Boneless works on a Tuesday, but it cooks faster and the sauce will be a little less deep.
- •Ora-pro-nóbis is best when the leaves are fresh, perky, and cheap at the market. If the bunch looks tired or slimy, cook another green today. I won't let a sad leaf make you think the recipe failed.
- •Wash the leaves well and watch for tiny thorns on the stems. Use mostly leaves, not woody stems, unless your bunch is very young and tender.
- •No powdered chicken seasoning. Salt, onion, garlic, tomato, colorau, and browning do the work. A packet is not a shortcut here, it's a disguise.
- •Can't find ora-pro-nóbis? Use taioba, spinach, or couve as a practical substitute, but name the cost: it becomes a different pot. Good, useful, still dinner, just not the Sabará leaf doing its quiet magic.
Advance Preparation
- •Season the chicken up to 12 hours ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. Take it out 20 minutes before cooking so it doesn't hit the pot refrigerator-cold.
- •Wash and dry the ora-pro-nóbis up to 1 day ahead. Wrap it in a clean towel and refrigerate it in a covered container.
- •Leftovers keep for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat gently with a splash of water so the sauce loosens without overcooking the leaves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 240g)
Calories
330 calories
Total Fat
24 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
16 g
Cholesterol
105 mg
Sodium
700 mg
Total Carbohydrates
7 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
22 g
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