MinistĂŠrio da Cidadania apresenta
Brazilian Cuisine for children and Their Parents
Brazilian Dishes Brazilian Cuisine for Children and Their Parents
Liana Leão
Brazilian Dishes
and
General Coordination José Álvaro da Silva Carneiro
Graphic design Rita Soliéri Brandt
Text Liana Leão Luciana Patrícia de Morais
Graphic Project Revision - 2nd Edition Marcello Kawase
Research Luciana Patrícia de Morais Liana Leão Illustrations Heliana Grudzien
Text Revision - 2nd Edition Sandra Solda English version Martha Dias Schlemm French version Laura Solange Pereira
Original text revision Antônia Schwinden
INSTITUIÇÃO BENEFICIADA
PATROCINADORES
Luciana Patrícia de Morais Illustrations Heliana Grudzien
Brazilian Dishes Brazilian Cuisine for Children and Their Parents
REALIZAÇÃO
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José Álvaro da Silva Carneiro, 2013 First Edition 2013
Contents Our Starter ...................................................................... 8 Food is Culture ................................................................ 12 Food Talks ........................................................................ 14 A Little Three-Legged Table ............................................. 20
Depósito legal junto à Biblioteca Nacional, conforme Lei nº 10.994 de 14 de dezembro de 2004
Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP) Bibliotecária responsável: Luzia G. Kintopp - CRB/9 - 1535 Index Consultoria em Informações e Serviços Ltda. Curitiba - PR L437
Leão, Liana Brazilian dishes : brazilian cuisine for childen and their parents / Liana Leão and Luciana Patrícia de Morais; Heliana Grudzien illustration. — Curitiba : José Álvaro da Silva Carneiro, 2019. 120 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
1. Brazilian cooking. 2. Cooking for children. 3. Brazil - History. I. Morais, Luciana Patrícia de. II. Grudzien, Heliana. III. Title. CDD: 641.5981
To and Fro ........................................................................ 32 Food Fit for a King ........................................................... 36 King Dom João VI: Chicken and Art ....................................... 37 Emperor Pedro I: Rice and Beans .......................................... 40 Emperor Pedro II: Chicken Soup and Pitanga Sorbet ............ 42
Exotic Foods: Yucky or Yummy? ...................................... 48 A Journey through Flavors ............................................... 54 From the Coast Inland .......................................................... 55 From the Hinterland to the Rest of Brazil ............................. 60 From the Northeast to the World .......................................... 67 Desserts Straight from Seventh Heaven ............................... 72
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The King of Candied Coconut ................................................ 76 To Each Corner Its Own Charm .............................................. 78 The Fruit That Cries: Aรงai....................................................... 79 Nuts about Brazil Nuts .......................................................... 80 One Fruit, Two Wonders: Cashew and Cashew Nut ............. 81 The Edible Bromeliad: Pineapple .......................................... 82 Food of the Gods: Cocoa ...................................................... 85 Stars of the Savannah: Pequi ................................................ 87 Dinosaur Food: Pine Nuts .................................................... 89
Weird Foods with Funny Names .................................... 91 The Banquet Table ......................................................... 97 Recipes ........................................................................... 101 Bibliographic References ................................................ 115
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Did you know that Brazilian children eat warm bread
Our Starter
with melted butter every day for breakfast because the Europeans brought bread to Brazil? Did you know that the farofa that Brazilians like so much is prepared with manioc flour, an ingredient present in the diet of Brazilian Indians? Did you know that in Bahia people eat a dumpling called acarajé that is deep-fried in palm oil and was introduced in Brazil by Africans? Did you know that in Brazil people eat coconut cake, candied coconut, and coconut sweets made from recipes created by African slaves a long time ago?1 By now you must have noticed that this book is all about Brazilian cuisine. But food is not limited to what people actually eat; it also has to do with language. In Brazil, there are expressions like “add more water to the beans” or “the king of the candied coconut”. Yes, we can use food to express ourselves!
Slavery in Brazil began in the seventeenth century and was abolished in the nineteenth century, in 1888. Portuguese traffickers took Blacks from their African homes and sold them as slaves in Brazil.
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In this book we are going to find out what people ate in Brazil when the Portuguese first arrived here. They ate cashews, pineapples, and much more . . . We are going to learn a bit about the history of the country. What did the Brazilian Indians eat? What plants did they grow? What animals did they hunt? Rodents, mammals? And the Portuguese, how did they manage to bring cows to Brazil? As for the cows, did they travel well on a caravel? And what about African slaves? What did they bring with them to Brazil? Where did they keep the flavors of their countries—in their memory? And the king’s food? What could King Dom João VI eat in a country so different from Portugal? How could he eat almonds in a country where there were only pine nuts? What is the connection between Emperor Dom Pedro II and the King Cashew? We are going to follow delicious paths, and our guides will be manioc, sugar cane, corn, and coconut. These are ingredients we find all over Brazil in a wide variety of recipes. Each region has its own charm and flavors!
Have a nice journey! Enjoy!
José Álvaro da Silva Carneiro General Coordination
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Food satisfies hunger. Different dishes satisfy hunger and
reveal who we are. Would you like an example?
Food is Culture
When a cat eats, it is nourished. When a man eats, he is nourished physically, and in terms of culture too! Food expresses our culture and our history. Food tells us who we are. When we speak of Brazilian, Italian, or Japanese food, we generally mean typical dishes. Pasta is a typical Italian dish. Sashimi is a typical Japanese dish. Codfish is a typical Portuguese dish. Feijoada (a stew of black beans and pork meat) and acarajĂŠ (a fritter fried in palm oil) are two typical Brazilian dishes. What is Brazilian food? Is it food invented by Brazilians? Is it food prepared the Brazilian way? Or is it food prepared with Brazilian ingredients? This book invites you think about these questions and many more. In Brazil, each region has its own local cuisine and its own typical dishes. All of these cuisines together make up Brazilian cuisine. There are many typical dishes that come from certain Brazilian regions: for instance, the barbecue (grilled meat) of Rio Grande do Sul, the couscous of SĂŁo Paulo, and the collard green of Minas Gerais. All these dishes are delicious. And, in addition to nourishing the body, they are symbols of Brazil. 13 0
For humans, eating means more than just satisfying
Food Talks
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hunger. Well, first and foremost, that is what it is. But it is also much more. Eating is about choosing what we want to eat and where we want to eat it. Through food we reveal our identities, our past, and our values. Food is language. We use food idioms to express ideas. Would you like some examples? In this book we are going to spill the beans about food. We won’t walk on eggshells. We want the best for you, the cream of the crop. And because you are a smart cookie, use your noodle and savor these examples! Showing that we use lots of idioms related to food in our daily lives is just the icing on the cake. When we want to say that a person is in a difficult situation, we say they are in a pickle. Sometimes we are very calm and relaxed, so we say we are as cool as a cucumber. But a big cheese would never say these things. In the subway at rush hour people are packed in like sardines. But if they had driven their cars, they would have gone out of the frying pan and into the fire. When they got stuck in traffic, they would really be in the soup. But this is how it is, and there is no use in crying over spilled milk. 15 0
There! These are just a few examples. You can try making a list of your own of all the food-related idioms you use. How many do you think would be on your list? Food is in our daily sayings, in proverbs, and in riddles. Let’s have some fun with some food jokes:
What did the baby corn say to the mama corn? Why did the banana go to the doctor? What do you get from a pampered cow?
Spoiled milk! Because it wasn’t peeling well! Where’s pop? 16 0
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Knock Knock! Who’s there? Doughnut. Doughnut who? Doughnut ask, it’s a secret.
We read a lot about the subject, and we dished out lots of information. But we were not advancing much in our writing and so we tried not to get ourselves into a stew over the book. At some point we had a lot on our plate and decided to take the fruit of our labor, all the knowledge we had accumulated, and finish our book. No, we would not have given up, not for all the tea in China! We hope it will whet your appetite! It sure has whetted ours.
Knock Knock! Who’s there? Cheese. Cheese who? Cheese a jolly good fellow!
When we began writing this chapter, we thought it would be as easy as duck soup, but then we thought we might have bitten off more than we could chew, that we wouldn’t be able to cut the mustard. But in the end it proved to be the greatest thing since sliced bread!
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A Little Three-Legged Table Our cuisine begins with a tripod. A tripod? We know, this is a difficult word but the idea is easy to understand. Picture a little three-legged table: one of the legs represents the heritage of Brazilian Indian tribes, the other leg stands for the Portuguese settlers’ heritage, and the third, our African heritage.
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Brazilian Indians hunted lots of animals: monkeys,
anteaters, sloths, jaguars, pigeons and others. They ate both terrestrial and water turtles as well as many kinds of fishes from the sea and rivers, including pintado, tucunarĂŠ, corvina, and even the manatee (which is not really a fish but a mammal that lives in rivers). The natives harvested manioc, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, beans, pine nuts, Brazil nuts, and hearts of palm. And they ate lots of fruit too: guava, passion fruit, pitanga (Surinam cherry), cashews and papayas. They used pineapples as a medicine.
The Africans brought palm oil, red pepper, okra,
yam, Guinea fowl, and many types of bananas. That is because in Brazil there was only one type of banana that was native: the pacova, in the Tupi Indian language. Africans taught Brazilians a new way of preparing food by adding coconut milk, green coconut, and palm oil
The Portuguese settlers brought many animals to
to the dishes.
Brazil: goats, sheep, chickens, geese, and even cows. For the Brazilian vegetable garden, they brought coriander, cucumber, garlic, carrots, and basil. The Portuguese also brought olive oil, oranges, limes, lemons, melons, figs, and pomegranates. They loved meat, fried foods, pastries made with eggs, and vegetable bouillons. Since they were great navigators they also brought to Brazil spices from Asia and Africa: black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, mustard, ginger, saffron, and nutmeg. And because they knew many different kinds of foods (thanks to their many travels around the world), the Portuguese had no problems adapting to the taste of Brazilian ingredients. That is how many new Brazilian recipes were created! 22 0
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tartaruga Turtle
pirarucu Pirarucu
pintado
jacu-cigano
Pintado or Spotted Sorubim
Stinkbird
porco-do-mato
White-Lipped Peccary
bicho preguiรงa Sloth
corvina
Corvina or Shade-Fish
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Anteater
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jacu
Penelope
cabra
ovelha
rolinha
Columbina
Goat
Sheep
pato macuco
Duck
Solitary Tinamou 26 0
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vaca Cow
quiabo Okra
dendĂŞ
Oil Palm
caju
Cashew
mamĂŁo Papaya
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pimenta-malagueta Malagueta Pepper
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pequi Pequi
pitomba Pitomba
castanha-do-pará
inhame
Brazil Nuts
Yams
pepino
alho
Cucumber
açaí
manjericão
Açai
Garlic
Basil
lima Lime
figo
laranja
Fig
Orange
limão
Lemon
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coentro
Coriander
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The Portuguese navigated “unchartered waters�,
discovering new flavors and new ingredients and taking native species of their colonies to the places they visited. They participated in a true gastronomic revolution! For example, the Portuguese were the ones who took Brazilian manioc to Africa and who brought cinnamon and cloves from the Far East. When the Portuguese settlers arrived in Brazil, bringing their own recipes, they could not prepare their food. Why? Because the ingredients were different! Their recipes called for asparagus, artichokes, and eggplants, but there was none of that in Brazil! However, Brazil did have pumpkins, manioc, and hearts of palm. What do you think they did? The solution was to substitute the ingredients! If in Portugal, they used potatoes to make green collard soup (caldo verde), why not use manioc in Brazil? This is how Portuguese recipes were changed into new dishes with marked Brazilian flavors.
To and Fro
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Just to give you an idea about these substitutions, get a scoop of the table below: Ingredients in Portuguese and Europeans recipes
Ingredients found in Brazil and the Americas
Carrots Potatoes Artichokes Eggplants Walnuts Green onions Aspargus Melons Apples
Pumpkins Manioc or cassava Banana flowers African eggplants Pine nuts Onion leaves Hearts of palm Papayas Bananas
Some Brazilian products were taken abroad, and some even became typical dishes in other countries. Cassava, for instance, became a typical dish in Angola: the famous Funge, which is cooked pasta made from cassava flour and water. Another example is the cashew nut, which is so widely appreciated in India that people think it is original to that country! Several products from the Americas took part in these “ingredient journeys� as they travelled from one country to another. In Italy, for example, corn became polenta, and tomatoes were made into spaghetti sauce. Not to mention potatoes, which are greatly appreciated in Europe and, curiously enough, are known in Brazil as English potatoes! 34 0
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King Dom João VI: Chicken and Art When the Portuguese court hurriedly embarked to
Food Fit for a King 36 0
Brazil - to avoid confrontation with Napoleon - they didn´t feel so good in the more than three months it took them to cross the ocean. They faced bad storms and were very seasick, vomiting a lot. To make things worse, the drinking water was of poor quality, and the food was scarce. They ate what was available: codfish, sausages, and bacon. Since at that time there were no refrigerators, food rotted quickly; the solution for the court to eat fresh eggs, milk and meat, was to take aboard live chickens, cows, and pigs! It was a mess; the caravels were dirty and foul smelling… What a relief when Dom João VI approached the coast of Pernambuco! Better still was when the governor of the province, to flatter the king, sent a sail boat filed with cashews, Surinam cherries and other tropical fruits. Yuuuumy! Finally, in 1808, King Dom João VI and his court arrived in Rio de Janeiro. After three months at sea, the noblemen hardly looked like nobles: hungry, smelly, and dressed in rags. And, what is worse, they were covered with fleas and lice! When the European ladies 37 0
disembarked, they wore turbans because they were bald. Yes, poor things, they had to have their heads shaved because of the lice that infested people on ships. (Some Brazilian ladies, thinking that the turbans were fashionable in Europe, decided to imitate them. People believe that this is the origin of the turbans that Bahian women typically wear.) As the king and his court traveled south, the governors of São Paulo and Minas Gerais provinces showered them with gifts of meat such as beef, mutton, pork, and chicken and a wide variety of fruit, including bananas, grapes, and guavas. Other foods were also provided: yams, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, and cassava. This was not at all what the Portuguese were used to eating in their country. . . but when there is no bread, let them eat tapioca cakes! Very soon King Dom João VI took to his old habit of eating three small chickens for lunch and three for dinner. He was quite a glutton and always kept a few chicken drumsticks in his pockets for a quick snack during the day. For dessert, he ate oranges and mangoes.
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At that time, Rio de Janeiro had only 46 streets. On those streets, slaves sold dumplings, cake, canjica, rice pudding, cookies, sausage, corn, fruit, and other goodies on trays. You may be asking yourself how we know all this. Well, King Dom João VI, who liked very much to eat, also loved art. He had invited painter Jean-Baptiste Debret to come and paint Brazil. Debret lived here for fifteen years and painted the country and its people at a time cameras did not exist. King Dom João VI also built ports and opened Brazil to the world, introducing the country to international trade. Thus, Brazilians got to know new flavors. Many different products arrived in the country: ham, sausage, vinegar, oil, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, dried fruit, mustard, and tea! But don’t go jumping to the conclusion that the king ate nothing but imported food. In the royal kitchen there were mostly Brazilian treats: manioc flour, tapioca, guava jam, and fresh guava and various other tropical fruit. King Dom João VI also authorized that the rice grown in the country should also be processed here. The new white rice became, then, a staple food for the army and the rest of the people. And everybody liked it so much that they wanted to eat this mixture every day. Soon, white rice and black beans came to mean “a regular meal” in Brazil.
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Emperor Dom Pedro I: Rice and Beans Prince Pedro arrived in Brazil when he was 11 years old.
The little Portuguese prince was nuts about manioc flour, beans, rice and fried chicken. He loved hunting and catching his own lunch: wild turkey was one of his favorite dishes. Pedro also loved soup. His favorite place to eat was not the dining room, but the kitchen table, where he loved visiting with the servants. When it was decided that Pedro was to be married, a princess was summoned from Austria: LĂŠopoldine. This princess, who later became the empress of Brazil, brought sophisticated ingredients with her: salmon, tuna, green peas, artichoke, and codfish. Pedro tried them all, but what was really made his mouth water was the rice and beans mixture. This monarch born in Portugal had very Brazilian tastes.
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Emperor Dom Pedro II :
Chicken Soup and Pitanga Sorbet for King Cashew
When Pedro I went back to Portugal to become that
country’s king, he left his son in Brazil. His name was — guess what? — Pedro! And so he became Pedro II. He was the first emperor of Brazil to be born here, in Rio de Janeiro, a true carioca. Pedro II was a little blond boy who loved manioc dumplings. When he was 9 years old, a novelty arrived in Brazil from Boston, Massachusetts: sorbet. Well, this is quite an exaggeration, because it was actually just a block of ice. This is how it happened: a block of ice weighing almost 170 tons was sent from Boston to Rio de Janeiro. A confectioner on Ouvidor Street, Mr. Deroche, bought the whole block and by chipping it into little pieces and adding fruit juice he made sorbet! People came from all over the place to taste this iced delicacy. Some people were afraid of getting frostbite on their tongues, and other people worried that the iced confection would freeze their stomachs! The delicacy was the subject of long discussions in the 42 0
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palace until the young emperor was finally allowed to taste it. He really liked the fruit sorbet very much, to the relief of the general population and to Mr. Deroche, who had invested a fortune in this enterprise. Can you guess what Pedro’s favorite flavor was? It was a very Brazilian flavor: pitanga sorbet! Later, when he was grown up, Pedro II’s favorite dish was chicken soup. He couldn’t go without it. So much so that when he went to the theatre he was served chicken soup at intermission and enjoyed the second part of the play even more! Like his grandfather, King Dom João VI, Pedro II also loved fruit. He even had a nickname linked to fruit. Pedro II had a prominent chin, and because of his profile, which looked like a cashew nut, he was called King Cashew.
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To ensure that the preparation of the recipes in this book will be nothing but real pleasure, it would be best for an adult to help you prepare them. An adult is better trained to use knives, a blender, the stove, and other potentially dangerous appliances. Don’t take unnecessary risks!
Chicken Soup In a preheated cooking pan, add 2 table poons of soybean oil. Stir-fry 2 thighs and 2 drumsticks seasoned with salt and black pepper to taste until golden. Add 2 peeled and diced carrots. Add 4 cups of water and allow the meat to cook. Add 1 cup of rice and cook until rice is tender. Adjust the salt and add chopped parsley to taste. Now, invite a king to eat! Or a president – this chicken soup, even the American president, Theodore Roosevelt, in his visit to Brazil tried it and liked it!
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Monteiro Lobato, author of “The Yellow Woodpecker
Exotic Foods: Yucky or Yummy?
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Farm”, a book Brazilian children adore, was sure that we could know a people by their cuisine. He was a person who snacked all the time. He always carried small pieces of rapadura sugar in his pockets, which he ate all day long. Monteiro Lobato loved manioc cakes, canjica, crystalized guava sweets, and ants! Yes, that is right! Ants. A special kind of ant called tanajura that is bigger and rounder than other ants. While he was filling his stomach with salty roasted ants, he filled the pages of his book with stories about Miss Cute Little Turned-Up Nose and her rag doll, Emilia; the Viscount of Corncob; Quindim, the sweet rhinoceros; Dr. Seashell; the gluttonous Marquis of Short Tail; and the Talking Donkey, the philosopher counselor. Maybe it was those ant snacks that inspired him to create such delicious characters! Emilia, who had been created as a rag doll and then had been given the gift of speech, wanted to change Nature (just as her “nature” had been changed). She had the “brilliant” idea that watermelons should grow on trees. It was not until she saw the damage that even one small jaboticaba fruit, the size of a tiny grape, caused when it fell on the nose of someone under a tree that she wisely dropped the idea of reforming Nature. Can you imagine if it had been a watermelon? Somebody should tell Emilia that Nature is wise. 49 0
The other great idea Emilia had was an edible book with pages made of pasta: after reading a page, the reader could eat it! That would make for delicious reading, wouldn’t it? Lobato also created Aunt Nastacia, the best cook in the entire world! She managed to tame and conquer the Minotaur with her famous rain dumplings—a special kind of dumpling prepared on rainy days when children can’t get out of the house to play (just as the Minotaur could not get out of his labyrinth)! Going back to ants, eating them is not yucky at all. All over the world people eat strange things. In the streets of certain countries in Asia, people can buy cockroaches, spiders, scorpions, and grasshoppers on skewers. In China, people eat duck tongue. In Africa, they eat monkey brains. In Norway, at Christmas, people eat sheep heads, including the eyes! A long time ago in Brazil people used to eat the white grubs of a moth called bicho de taquara, which were said to taste a little like pork. And they also ate lice: from the head straight to the mouth! Wild animals such as sloths, jaguars, anteaters, otters, snakes, frogs, parakeets and macaws were also special dishes. You know all too well that today there are laws that protect wild animals. But for those who want to know more about these exotic and strange dishes, read the first Brazilian cookbook called The National Cook. It explains, for example, how to prepare monkey with bananas . . . monkey business? 50 0
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Rain Dumplings In a bowl, add 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix well. Add 1 cup of milk and gradually add 2 cups of sifted wheat flour. Add 1 tablespoon of baking powder and stir gently. Do not beat. Heat enough oil to deep-fry the dumplings in a pan. When the oil is hot, lower the fire. With the help of a tablespoon, make small balls of dough and fry them. Watch out for oil splatter! Fry the dumplings until they are golden. Place absorbent paper on a plate so the excess oil will drain off the dumplings. On another plate, mix sugar with powdered cinnamon to roll the dumplings in.
If there is a Minotaur around, make sure to invite him to taste your dumplings.
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A Journey through Flavors
You are invited to join us on a journey around Brazil, where you will get to know manioc, sugar cane, corn, and coconut. You will find out about other goodies too: açai, pequi, and pine nuts. Yummy!
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From the Coast Inland Manioc or cassava is the king of Brazilian roots. It grows
all over the country. It can be cooked, ground into flour, or powdered into starch. Manioc is an ingredient in so many Brazilian dishes that it has earned a nickname: the bread of the poor. Yes, it is a substitute for bread at breakfast when it is prepared as a cake, a pancake, or a cookie. People eat tapioca pancake filled with jerked meat, white cheese, coconut, or guava jam. For lunch and dinner, manioc can be cooked or fried. Many dishes are prepared with it: farofa, cassava cream (pirão), dumplings, soup, and manioc stew. Even ice cream can be made from manioc starch! A long time ago, the French traveler Jean de Léry lived in Rio de Janeiro for almost a year with the Tupinamba Indians. He was impressed by the ability of his neighbors when they ate dried cassava flour. He watched 55 0
them “taking it with their four fingers from the clay pot where they keep it; even when thrown from afar it lands straight in their mouths and not one single bit of it is wasted”. Oh yes, the natives knew their manioc well. They grew and harvested this root enough to know that there were two types — the sweet manioc and the bitter one — and that they needed to extract the poisonous juice from the bitter one before they ate it. But what is this poison all about? Can we eat a poisonous plant? Let me explain this. The poisonous manioc (bitter manioc) is poisonous because the juice it produces is actually cyanohydric acid. It is essential to neutralize this lethal acid before the bitter manioc becomes food on a plate. And it is actually very simple: all you have to do is cook the root. When that is done, bitter manioc becomes edible. Bitter manioc is used to prepare two well-known dishes from the North of Brazil: duck with tucupi and maniçoba. Tucupi is a yellow juice extracted from grated dried manioc. Maniçoba is a pork ragout cooked with the leaves of bitter manioc. While we have to be very careful when preparing dishes with the bitter manioc, it is very easy to prepare dishes with sweet manioc. Sweet cassava is eaten everywhere in Brazil.
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Manioc flour is a favorite ingredient in many Brazilian dishes such as tutu à mineira (pureed beans with manioc flour) and feijãode-tropeiro (whole cooked beans mixed with manioc flour). In Southern Brazil, the typical dish of the coastal area of the state of Paraná is barreado — beef ragout with bacon, served with a finely ground manioc flour. And let’s not forget the small bun made from manioc starch and cheese. Yes, manioc is the king of Brazilian roots! So much so that it was painted by Debret, Albert Eckhout, and Rugendas. Yes, manioc is the king of Brazilian roots in art too!
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From the Hinterland to the Rest of Brazil In Brazil, people love to eat corn! They eat corn on the
cob, corn cakes, canjica, polenta, pamonha (a paste made from corn and milk, wrapped in corn husks) and many corn treats. Unlike manioc, corn is not native to Brazil. Its scientific name, zea mays, reveals its origin: zea from the Greek word zeia, which means “grain”; and mays for the Mayan people who lived in Central America, where corn came from. The European immigrants (who left their countries to live in Brazil) almost immediately integrated manioc in their diet. But not corn! Why? Because corn was used as animal feed. If chickens, goats, and horses ate corn, no Portuguese, no European, no white man who was worth his salt would eat it! It took a long time for them to taste and eat corn. But how is it that corn became such an important ingredient in Brazil?? Mostly because Bandeirantes (flagbearers) and Tropeiros (cattle drivers and sellers of supplies) ate corn and, thus, proved to everybody else that eating corn was a good survival strategy! 60 0
Bandeirantes were explorers who travelled in the Brazilian hinterland. In the name of the Crown, they left cities like São Paulo and São Vicente and went into the hinterland looking for gold, precious stones, and Indians they could enslave. Their goal was also to conquer new territories.
Tropeiros were traders who, beginning in the gold cycle , travelled around the Southern, Southeastern, and Northeastern regions of Brazil driving cattle, bringing supplies for sale, and carrying letters and news.
The Bandeirantes explored the Brazilian hinterland in search of precious stones; they entered forests, camped outdoors, and created new villages. These new villages lacked everything people needed to survive, including food. That is where the Tropeiros came in, bringing supplies to the new isolated villages. Since corn was quick and easy to grow, it began to be cultivated. The Indians knew all about it. The Tropeiros and Bandeirantes had only to imitate and learn from them. Today, corn is eaten everywhere in Brazil, in many different ways.
Tropeiro breakfast ( Jacuba or corn paste) In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of toasted corn flour and 2 tablespoons of diced cheese. Brew light coffee and sweeten it with rapadura sugar. Add the coffee to the flour and cheese mixture. Mix well and eat it with a spoon.
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In the Northeast, people eat canjica and corn couscous, which is made of sweet or salty corn flour prepared in a special pan called cuscuzeira. In the Middle West, people eat corn on the cob, pamonha, curau2, and polenta. 2
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Corn paste.
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In São Paulo, people also eat couscous. A long time ago, it was prepared like this: corn flour was mashed with fish, pepper, onions, and pork fat, then pressed and wrapped in tissue. This is what people ate during their long travels. Today, couscous in São Paulo is prepared in a crown-shaped mold. It is mixed corn flour, eggs, sardines, tomatoes, or hearts of palm! In Minas Gerais, people eat polenta, mainly as a side dish with chicken and shrimp. In the afternoon, while receiving guests, they eat corn bread or corn cake with coffee. In Southern Brazil, people also eat polenta, but they use a recipe that Italian immigrants brought a long time ago. It is made with crushed corn, called quirera, and pork. It is the typical dish of a village called Lapa in the state of Paraná. Get the scoop on this one!
Here is a curious fact about Lapa quirera: Since it was the food eaten by cattle drivers that crisscrossed the country trading their goods, they took along their own recipes. And, from the South of Brazil, the Lapa quirera recipe ended up in the state of Minas Gerais. There, it was given a different name: canjiquinha com costelinha! Corn is also an important feature in the popular Brazilian festivity celebrated during the winter month of June: the Festival of St. John. The famous canjica (corn with milk) recipe differs from place to place: it can include peanuts here and coconut there, sweetened condensed milk in one place, and cloves or cinnamon in another. But it is always delicious.
Yummy, yummy!
Lapa quirera recipe Cook 500 grams of diced smoked pork cutlets in water. In a frying pan, sauté a small onion and two cloves of chopped garlic. Add 2 sliced Calabrese sausages and the diced pork. Fry this mixture, then add a cup of quirera. Mix and cover with water. Allow to simmer for 40 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 4 leaves of finely sliced collard greens before serving.
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From the Northeast to the World The sugar cane plant is original to India. It came to
Brazil with Portuguese settlers. But it was the busy hands of the African slaves that cultivated it and produced the large amounts of sugar that made the fortune of the Portuguese Crown and the owners of sugar mills. But why did the Portuguese decide to grow sugar in Brazil? They did it because sugar was rare and expensive in Europe. To produce sugar the Portuguese had to have a lot of land and many workers. In Brazil, the land belonged to the Portuguese as they had managed to eliminate the indigenous tribes that used to live on it. To work on the sugar plantations, the Portuguese brought African blacks (to work as slaves). This is why Brazil, mainly the state of Pernambuco, produced sugar. A very sad story. ***** 66 0
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In Brazil there are sweets that are like pure sugar—molasses and rapadura. Sugar-cane molasses is syrup as thick and slow as molasses in January. It looks a lot like bee honey. It is a finger-licking treat! In the old days, the rapadura was both food and medication for the farmers and people who lived in the hinterland of Brazil because of the high amounts of calories, vitamins and mineral salts it contains. Farmers always carried a piece of rapadura sugar in their pockets to snack on during the day and in long trips. More recently, this rustic treat has been served as dessert in very sophisticated dinners at the Brazilian Embassy in London! It has come a long way from its humble origins. The Portuguese loved to combine fruit and sugar. They brought their original quince marmalade to Brazil, but then they began experimenting with local tropical fruit. For example, by cooking fruit with lots of sugar, they created goiabada and bananada, guava and banana marmalade. Banana and sugar make an irresistible pair! In Northeastern Brazil, people eat a sweet called “top hat�: bananas with sugar, cinnamon, and cheese. In Minas Gerais, this same dessert is called mineiro de botas (miner in boots). In the Amazon region, people eat this same mixture, but there it is much more syrupy.
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In Southern Brazil, bananas are used to make delicious chewy candy, and wherever there are German immigrants, people enjoy a delicious German version of banana cake, German kuchen, or “cuque,� as Brazilians pronounce it. Brazilians literally go bananas over bananas. They are the apples of their eyes! They are the biggest banana eaters in the world! The banana is truly the Brazilian muse. By the way, Musa is the banana’s scientific name. Yes, as Carmen Miranda, another Brazilian muse, used to sing:
Yes, we have bananas!
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Desserts Straight from Seventh Heaven The sweets
the Portuguese brought with them greatly influenced Brazilian confectionery. They are mostly yellow, made from eggs, and heavenly sweet. There is the famous angel double chin, the nun’s belly, Saint Clair’s pastry, the bacon of the sky, the nun’s kiss, the nun’s neck, the abbess’s cake, the abbot’s cake, Saint Francis pastry, Good Jesus cookies . . . all of them yummy treats to die for! But why do most Portuguese sweets made from eggs have names connected to the Church? Because these treats were originally prepared in monasteries and convents. The monks and nuns used egg whites to starch their linen. That left them with plenty of egg yolks. So they created recipes to use up all the egg yolks. Many convents became famous for their sweets, and the recipes were highly treasured and kept top secret. But how did these recipes end up in Brazil? The Portuguese who lived in Brazil longed for these treats. And as they didn’t have 72 0
the same ingredients here, they had to adapt the recipes. Would you like an example? Brazilian confectioners adapted “Brisas do Lis” (Breezes of Lis), a small pastry made from eggs and almonds, by replacing the almonds with grated coconut. Thus, the Brazilian quindim was created. No, not Quindim, the sweet rhinoceros from Lobato’s books! But the flan-like treat made with coconut and eggs that is gooey and delicious. So famous is this dessert that the musician Ary Barroso celebrates in one of his songs. Oh, how we would love to have the coconut quindim recipe! 73 0
Quindim (coconut - egg flan) Preheat the oven before starting. Separate 9 eggs. Discard the whites and keep the yolks. In a blender, mix the 9 egg yolks, 3 whole eggs, 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 pinch of salt, ½ kilo of powdered sugar, and 1 whole coconut, grated and dehydrated. Prepare small pastry molds by greasing them with butter and then sprinkling sugar in the molds. Swirl the molds until sugar covers all the butter, then pour the excess sugar out. Pour the mixture from the blender into these molds and bake them in a single rectangular pan in bain-marie (double boiler) in the oven until the contents of the molds are golden and firm. Remove them from the oven and let them cool before placing them in the refrigerator. Wait until the flans are very cold before removing them from the pastry molds for serving.
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The King of Candied Coconut Bahians, who have been eating candied coconut
since who knows when, can hardly believe that the coconutproducing palm tree may not be native to Bahia and to Brazil. Some say that it is native to India; others that it comes from New Zealand or the Polynesian Islands. Some believe that the coconut palm tree is native to Africa. Others confirm that the Bahians are right and that the coconut tree is native to Brazil! Looking at the world map, then, we realize that the coconut is believed to be from any one of four continents Oceania, Africa, Asia, and America - except Europe. But why so many ideas about the origin of the coconut? Because we find the coconut palm tree almost all over the world. The coconut is resistant, and can float in the ocean for three months before it rots. And, as soon as it reaches dry land, the nut germinates, especially where there is plenty of sand, salt, sun, and rain. So, if the coconut tree is not native to Brazil, it certainly has been around for a long time. So long that it has become part of our language too! As when we say: “he thinks he is the 76 0
king of the black candied coconut” meaning a person that is conceited and thinks too well of himself. Brazilians have been using coconut in many sweet and salty food recipes. In Minas Gerais, people use it in canjica and in corn bread. In Bahia, there are many colors and types of candied coconut treats: raw white coconut, brownish toasted coconut, yellow coconut mixed with pineapple or passion fruit. As a matter of fact, candied coconut was the favorite treat of the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis. In his books, dessert time was described as a time of laughter and “full stomachs”.
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The Fruit That Cries: Açai
To Each Corner its Own Charm In this gastronomic trip around Brazil, we see that some ingredients, such as manioc, sugar cane, corn, and coconut are used in every corner of the country. Other ingredients only appear in certain regions. Together, they tell a bit of our history and show the diverse flavors of Brazil.
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Açai is a small, round, dark fruit that grows on vines. It’s the fruit of a palm tree from the North of Brazil, which is found along rivers in the states of Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, and Pará. It grows all year around, and we can use it to make creams, juice, and sorbet. Thanks to its nutritious value, açai is very much appreciated by Brazilian surfers. What they may not know, though, is that the Indians ate açai with manioc long before they did! The Brazilian Indians had a legend about the origin of the açai. Here is how it goes: Once upon a time, in a tribe ravished by famine, an Indian chief decided that all newborn babies must die in order to save those who were already living. The food would go only to children and adults and not to any newborn babies. The chief’s daughter, Iaçã, soon gave birth to a little daughter who had to be sacrificed because of her father’s decision. Iaçã cried a lot for her dead baby. One night, the little baby daughter reappeared at the foot of a palm tree. The following morning Iaçã was found dead at the foot of that same tree, which was immediately filled with small black fruit. It was the açai tree, a tree whose name honors the princess Iaçã and in the Tupi language means “the fruit that cries”. After that, there was no more killing of newborns because thanks to the açai tree there was no more hunger in that village. 79 0
One Fruit, Two Wonders: Cashew and Cashew Nut
Nuts about Brazil Nuts In French-speaking countries it is called “la noix du
Brésil”; in English-speaking countries it is called “Brazil nut”. But in Brazil, it is named after the Brazilian state where it grows: castanhado-pará. In the wild, the nuts grow on trees that can reach the height of a 20-story building! They are found mainly in the states of Pará, Amazonas, Rondônia, Acre, Tocantins, and Mato Grosso. In Brazil, this nut, which has a very subtle flavor, was used as a substitute for almonds in Portuguese pastry recipes.
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Try to solve this riddle:
Fernão de Cardim, one of the first travelers to travel all over Brazil, tells us that the Portuguese recipe for marzipan was adapted in Brazil to use cashew nuts instead of almonds!
I look like a fruit but I am not a fruit. Who am I? The cashew! But if the cashew is not a fruit, what is the fruit of the cashew tree? It’s the cashew nut! Enough to drive you nuts! And the cashew . . . what is it? The cashew is a pseudo-fruit (a “false” fruit) that grows on the branches of the cashew tree. The cashew is actually only the “container” for the cashew nut. The nut is the real fruit. Cool, isn’t it? Brazil is the place of origin of a tree that bears a fruit and a pseudofruit—and we can eat them both!
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The Edible Bromeliad: Pineapple Bromeliads are beautiful
plants that produce flowers. In Brazil, there is a bromeliad that tastes great! Have you ever eaten a bromeliad? Answer yes if you have eaten a pineapple, the king of the bromeliads. (And it even wears a crown!) Is the pineapple a flower or a fruit? It’s hard to tell. When it comes to pineapples, they are a tough nut to crack! In Brazil, the pineapple is called “abacaxi”. This name comes from “ybacati”, which in the Tupi Indian language means “stinky fruit” (“yba” [fruit] and “cati” [stinky]). These Indians did not like the smell of pineapples, but for those who like pineapples, here is a piece of advice: a pineapple that is good to eat smells really good! It is said that the pineapple is originally from Brazil and that from there it spread to the rest of South and Central America. When Christopher Columbus came to the continent, he found pineapples all over the place. The pineapple also spread to other Portuguese and Spanish colonies. People loved it so much that it was not long before they started growing it the Far East and in Africa. 82 0
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Food of the Gods: Cocoa In Greek, Theo means god and broma means food. The
scientific name of cocoa, Theobroma cacao, means “food of the gods”! That is just perfect, because chocolate is made from cocoa, and it is the most delicious thing in the world! Cocoa was a sacred food for the ancient peoples of Central America, who had been growing the cocoa plant for a long time. The ancestors of the Mayas and the Aztecs used the cocoa nut to prepare tchocolatl, a very sour beverage. So, many centuries later, came the Spaniards and added sugar to it. The outcome was very good, close to what we have today. Then, one day, someone had the brilliant idea of adding milk to the combination of cocoa and sugar. And thanks to that, today we have hot chocolate, chocolate bars, and chocolate Easter eggs. Each of these recipes invented in Europe in the nineteenth century. Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, a giant of world literature, wrote about “the cacao civilization” in Brazil. That is how important cacao was in our country.
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Brigadeiro: the Brazilian Chocolate Truffle Brigadeiro is a classic treat at Brazilian children’s birthday parties. It’s a small truffle served in colored paper pastry cups. It is made of powdered chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, butter, and a pinch of salt. This is the original recipe for this treat, which used to be called negrinho (the little Negro). It makes a nice change from the egg yolks of the Portuguese tradition. Anyway, we mix the ingredients and roll them into little balls that are then rolled over chocolate jimmies or powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking to the paper pastry cups. But what about the name brigadeiro, where does it come from? Here we enter the realm of tales. In 1946, a brigadier general, Mr. Eduardo Gomes, announced his candidacy for president of the Republic of Brazil. He was a good-looking bachelor. Two young ladies decided to help him with his presidential campaign by distributing these small truffles.
Stars of the Savannah: Pequi Very much like the Amazon region, which has in acai its “black gold”, the Brazilian savannah, also called cerrado, has its “golden nugget”: the golden pequi. It is a fragrant and delicious fruit that can be eaten raw, but it can also be used in to prepare liqueurs and sweet and salty dishes. These “nuggets” have a secret to hide, though: under their thorny shells they hide delicious nuts! The pequi tree provides shade and coolness in the torrid heat of the cerrado. Folks say that the fruit of this tree doesn’t belong to anyone in particular, but to whoever picks it. At night, when the fruit is ripe, it falls from the trees and covers the savannah. It looks like stars have fallen from the sky. People get up in the wee hours of the morning people to collect the fruit, and it is the early bird who gets the most.
A Pequi-Seed Rosary The brigadier general was not elected, but the negrinho became known as brigadeiro, the typical treat of Brazil! 86 0
Let the pequi dry in the sun or put it in the oven to dry. Cut the pequi in half. Be careful with the thorns! Remove the seeds. String the necklace using a needle and thread . 87 0
Dinosaur Food; Pine Nuts Did you know that in Brazil people eat dinosaur food?
The araucaria is one of the most ancient trees on the planet! They have existed for at least 200 million years, and if they are not cut down, they can live for almost 1,000 years. These trees are very big and can reach 40 meters in height. It is said that they grew like that to protect themselves from the dinosaurs that used to eat their leaves and seeds (the pine nuts). Dinosaurs no longer roam the Earth, but the araucaria seeds are still here. Anyone who loves to eat pine nuts must be patient! One has to wait for the pine cones to fall – that´s when the nuts are ready to eat. Then you can cook them or bake them, peel them and savor them. The Botocudo Indians did not like to wait, so they developed a special arrow to knock down the pine cones. Today the Araucaria pine tree is protected by law. Araucarias are native to the plateaus of the three southernmost states of Brazil: Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. The araucaria is the state tree of Paraná. In the language of the Indians 88 0
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who used to live in this region, the name of its capital, Curitiba, means “araucaria forest”: curi (araucaria) and tyba (large amount). The araucaria seed was once part of the diet of Brazilian Indians and is now present in Brazilian recipes, in typical dishes in Southern Brazil, such as paçoca, lamb rice and entrevero.
Weird Foods with Funny Names
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Cartola (Top Hat)
The top hat was invented in nineteenth-century France. It is a tall hat that can be collapsed and carried under the arm and then goes back to its original tall shape thanks to a system of pleats. In twentieth-century Brazil, there was a great samba composer whose nickname was Cartola (the word for top hat in Portuguese) and who used to wear a funny hat, sometimes even a top hat. But what are we talking about? This book has nothing to do with a hat or a samba composer. Here, we are talking about food. Cartola and his wife owned a restaurant where they prepared the best traditional dishes of the Brazilian cuisine. One of these was the top hat we are talking about here: a traditional pastry of Pernambuco that is prepared with bananas, cheese, and cinnamon, a trio that is really top hat!
Vaca atolada (Bogged-Down Cow)
Picture a cow stuck in the mud. Well, this dish looks a bit like that! It is beef that is “bogged down� in small pieces of manioc that has been cooked until it becomes a kind of mash. This recipe was invented by cattle drivers; they drove cattle over long distances and had to prepare their own food. They cooked yellow manioc with brownish meat, which explains the funny name. But name or no name, what matters is that it is a tasty and succulent dish and when they ate it, they ate like horses! 92 0
Casadinhos ( Happily Married)
The Portuguese brought this pastry to Brazil. It is a cookie filled with milk caramel or guava jam. But this recipe comes with a belief: according to our ancestors, for a marriage to be happy, it was necessary to serve this pastry at the end of the wedding party. Nobody knows if it works of not, but the pastry is mouthwatering and definitely my cup of tea!
Escondidinho (Well Hidden) What a pleasure it is to try to find the well-hidden jerked meat inside the manioc puree! This dish consists of mashed manioc au gratin stuffed with jerked meat. This is a recipe from Pernambuco that spread all across Brazil but underwent some changes along the way: chicken or codfish meat or even shrimp may substitute for the jerked meat, and potatoes or even sweet potatoes may take the place of manioc. Very creative!
Arrumadinho (Neatly Arranged) Another recipe from Pernambuco that spread across the country. But there is nothing hidden in this one. This time, everything is neatly layered: first a layer of lima beans, then a layer of jerked meat, then chopped condiments, and finally a top layer of farofa.
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Pé de moleque (Little Brat’s Foot) According to Carlos Drummond de Andrade, a great Brazilian poet of the twentieth century, this traditional sweet made of rapadura sugar and peanuts is truly like a golden nugget. This delicious treat was a temptation for the street brats of colonial Brazil, who often stole them from the trays of the street vendors. There is at least one curious explanation for the name of this delicious candy: the streets of colonial Brazil were paved with different kinds of stones that made them look a little like brittle. To flatten and even out the surface, street children had to stomp on the rocks. Thus the name of this type of street and of the candy: pé de moleque. At least this is how the story goes.
Olho de sogra (Mother-in-Law’s Eye) A newlywed wanted to please her husband and asked her mother-inlaw to teach her how to cook. The mother-in-law agreed to do it, but did not really want her daughter-in-law to learn the secrets of her cooking. So, she changed the recipe of the candied coconut and added prunes to it! The daughter-in-law caught on to the mother-in-law’s intentions. But it turned out that the prunes with the candied coconut pleased her husband very much! And because they looked just like an eye . . . a “snake’s eye”, or better, the mother-in-law’s eye, guess what! That’s how they became known.
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Sovaco de cobra ( Snake’s Armpit) The armpit is the part of the body under the arms, where we put on deodorant. But snakes don’t have arms; they are as flat as a pancake! So how can they have armpits? This is unheard of, right? Well, we think that people wanted to give the name of something that doesn’t exist to a dish that is unbelievably good! But what is this unbelievable dish like? Jerked meat cut up into small pieces and mixed with corn and onions.
Maria - mole (Soft Mary) Maria Mole is a typical Brazilian sweet prepared with egg whites beaten with sugar, grated coconut, and natural powdered gelatin. Nobody knows who invented Maria Mole. People believe that it was invented about the same time ice was used to make sorbet. A ship that was supposed to bring the ice blocks never arrived. A slave named Mary didn’t want the children to go without their treat; so, she mixed some grated coconut with beef gelatin, water, and sugar. The result was soft and limp dough that was named after her. Another story says that it was invented by a pastry chef who was trying to make a stiffer meringue: as he added too much gelatin to the beaten egg whites, he ended up inventing a new treat, Maria Mole.
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Baba de moça (Young Lady’s Slobber) There was at least one Brazilian young lady who drooled over this cream: Princess Isabel, daughter of Emperor Dom Pedro II. It is a treat made with egg yolks, typical of the Portuguese convents, and coconut milk, very much used by Brazilian slaves. This cream is usually eaten as a sauce for an egg-white flan or it can be used as a pastry and cake filling.
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The Banquet Table
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In the beginning of this book, we talked about a
three-legged table, remember? This table symbolized the three main influences in Brazilian cuisine: Indian, African, and Portuguese. Well, this table eventually grew to become a banquet table, standing on several legs. How did it happen? In several periods of its history, Brazil welcomed a large number of immigrants from around the world: Spaniards, Dutch, French, Germans, Italians, Swiss, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Japanese, Syrians, Lebanese, Armenians, and Chinese. Each ethnic group brought their own recipes, ingredients, and ways to prepare them. Thus, Brazilian cuisine was enriched by new flavors, new scents, and new colors. Many people have contributed many things! So, now we can say that this table has become a banquet table around which everybody can feast together!
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Recipes In writing this book, we used several recipes gathered from the secret handwritten cookbooks of Carla de Camargo Leite, Isabella Doce de Leite, Dayse de Camargo Costa, and Luiza Palermo Degrazia. To them, our deepest thanks. For this new edition, the recipes were tested and revised by the cook Ana Carolina Ribeiro.
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Cashew ice-cream
Paçoca Degree of difficulty: piece of cake!
Degree of difficulty: piece of cake! (if the peanuts are already toasted and peeled)
Ingredients 30 CENTILITERS OF CONCENTRATED CASHEW JUICE 2 TABLESPOONS OF LIME JUICE 1 CAN OF SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK 1 CAN OF FRESH CREAM
Preparation Mix all the ingredients in a blender for 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl , cover the bowl, and put it in the freezer. After 4 hours, blend it one more time and place it in the freezer again. And there you are; it’s ready! This is in honor of the King Cashew, who loved this ice cream!
Tip: This ice cream can also be made with passion fruit juice, guava
Ingredients 500 GRAMS OF TOASTED AND PEELED PEANUTS 2 CUPS OF POWDERED SUGAR ½ CUP OF CORN FLOUR ½ TEASPOON OF SALT
Preparation Grind all the ingredients together in a blender for 5 minutes. Place the mixture in tiny pastry molds, pressing it down with a spoon. Remove the paçoca from the molds and it is ready to eat.
juice, or the juice of any fruit, for that matter. Take your pick!
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Manioc Cake
Cheese Buns Degree of difficulty: medium
Ingredients 1 ½ CUP OF SWEET MANIOC STARCH 1 CUP OF GRATED HALF-CURED OR MOZZARELLA CHEESE 1 CAN OF FRESH CREAM SALT TO TASTE
Preparation Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Work dough to the consistency of “play dough”. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for one hour, covered with a plastic film. Shape the dough into small balls and place them on a previously greased baking pan allowing enough space for them to grow without sticking together. Place them in a preheated oven (220oC) and bake them for 20 minutes.
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Degree of difficulty: medium
Ingredients
500 GRAMS OF PEELED SWEET MANIOC 2 EGG YOLKS ¾ CUP OF MILK 100 GRAMS OF GRATED AND DEHYDRATED COCONUT 2 CUPS OF SUGAR 75 GRAMS OF BUTTER (ROOM TEMPERATURE) 1 TABLESPOON OF BAKING SODA 1¼ CUPS OF WHEAT FLOUR
Preparation Preheat the oven before starting. In a blender, mix the cassava with the milk until the mixture is smooth and all of the ingredients are mixed together. In an electric blender, mix the egg yolks with the sugar and butter until it becomes a white cream. Add the grated coconut to the manioc mixture and gradually blend it with the wheat flour. Add the baking powder while blending all the ingredients gently. Bake the cake for 40 minutes, or until golden-brown .
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Tapioca
Canjica
(Manioc starch pancake) Degree of difficulty: medium
Ingredients for pancakes 120 GRAMS OF CASSAVA STARCH
Ingredients for fillings Filling Ideas SWEET GRATED COCONUT WITH CONDENSED MILK CHEESE AND OREGANO JERKED BEEF WITH CURDLED CHEESE OR CREAM CHEESE WHITE CHEESE WITH GUAVA MARMELADE OR MILK CARAMEL
Preparation Sift the manioc starch onto the bottom of a non-stick frying pan until it covers the bottom. Allow to cook on low heat until it becomes a uniform disk. Turn it over to toast the other side too. Add a small amount of filling on top of the disk, wait for a minute and then fold the disk.
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(White corn with milk) Degree of difficulty: medium
Ingredients 250 GRAMS OF WHITE CORN 100 GRAMS OF FRESHLY GRATED COCONUT 1 CAN OF SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK 1 STICK OF CINNAMON 3 CLOVES (OPTIONAL) ½ LITER OF BOILED MILK 2 TABLESPOONS OF TOASTED PEANUTS (OPTIONAL) POWDERED CINNAMON
Preparation First, put the corn in a bowl with 2 liters of water and let it soak for 12 hours. You can do that the night before. The next step is to boil the milk. Put it in a saucepan and heat gently over medium heat, stirring constantly so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Do this until small bubbles start to appear all through the milk. You don’t need to wait for bigger bubbles. As soon as the small bubbles appear all through the milk, turn off the heat. Then, cook the corn in the 2 liters of water with the cloves and cinnamon. When the grains are soft and the water has become “creamy,” add the hot boiled milk, the coconut, and the sweetened condensed milk. Stir to combine the ingredients. Cook over low heat for a few minutes stirring from time to time. Put individual servings in dessert bowls and garnish each serving with a small amount of the toasted peanuts. This dessert can be eaten hot or cold.
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Cartola (The top hat)
Cocada baiana
(Bahian candied coconut)
Degree of difficulty: medium
Ingredients 2 TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER FOR SAUTÉING THE BANANAS 6 LARGE BANANAS SLICED TO LENGTH 3 EGGS 1 CUP OF SUGAR 1 CUP OF MILK 300 GRAMS OF WHITE HALF-CURED CHEESE OR MOZZARELLA CUT INTO FINE SLICES 2 TABLESPOONS OF SUGAR MIXED WITH CINNAMON
Preparation Heat the butter in a frying pan and place the sliced bananas allowing them to golden on both sides. Reserve. Beat the eggs with sugar until creamy and add the milk. Mount the ingredients in layers in a refractory pan: bananas, cheese, and the egg, sugar and milk mixture until you have used up all the ingredients. Use cheese for the last layer and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Put the pan in the oven at 180oC for 20 minutes to melt the cheese.
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Degree of difficulty: piece of cake!
Ingredients 1 KILOGRAM OF WASHED PINE NUTS 2 LITERS OF WATER 1 TABLESPOON OF SALT
Preparation Put all the ingredients in a cooking pan and cook them on the stove stirring constantly until the water evaporates and the mixture loosens from the bottom of the pan. With a spoon, place small portions of cocada on wax paper. Let them cool.
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Cooked or toasted Pine Nuts
Açai cream
( Araucaria sedds) Degree of difficulty: piece of cake!
Ingredients 10 CENTILITERS OF FROZEN ACAI PULP 1 BANANA 2 TABLESPOONS OF GUARANA SYRUP GRANOLA FOR EMBELLISHMENT
Degree of difficulty: piece of cake!
Ingredients 1 KILOGRAM OF WASHED PINE NUTS 1 LITER OF WATER ¼ CUP OF SALT
Preparation
Preparation
Mix all the ingredients in a blender until creamy. Pour the mixture into a bowl and decorate the cream with the sliced banana and granola. The dessert is ready to eat!
Cook the ingredients in a pressure cooker. When you hear the first whistle, wait for 7 minutes before turning off the fire. If it is still too difficult to remove the pine nuts from their shells, try cooking them a little longer. The pine nuts can also be toasted among ambers in a fireplace or simply in a frying pan on the stove. Just wait for the shells to become black and the pine nuts are ready to eat.
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Pé de moleque
Brigadeiro (Brazilian chocolate truffle)
( Little brat`s foot)
Degree of difficulty: very easy (no need for cooking)
Ingredients
250 GRAMS OF COOKIES, GROUND IN A BLENDER 500 GRAMS OF PEANUTS, GROUND IN A BLENDER 1 TABLESPOON OF POWDERED CHOCOLATE 1 CAN OF SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK
Degree of difficulty: piece of cake!
Ingredients
1 CAN OF SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK 5 TABLESPOONS OF POWDERED CHOCOLATE 1 TABLESPOON OF BUTTER (AT ROOM TEMPERATURE) 1 PINCH OF SALT CHOCOLATE JIMMIES TO ROLL THE TRUFFLES IN
Preparation
Preparation Mix the peanuts with the ground cookies and powdered chocolate. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix until all ingredients are blended and the mixture is a dough. With the aid of a spatula, place the dough in a rectangular baking pan and allow it to cool for about 1 hour in the refrigerator. Cut the pé de moleque into small pieces and serve.
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Cook all the ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat. Stir the mix constantly until it no longer sticks to the bottom of the pan. Allow to cool. Wash your hands, then grease them with butter. Shape the paste into small truffles and then roll the truffles in the chocolate jimmies. Tasty! Yummy! Scrumptious!
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Good to read
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BOOKS AND ARTICLES: ANÔNIMO. Cozinheiro Nacional. São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial/ Senac São Paulo. 2008. [Edição revista, preparada a partir da 4ª “edição melhorada”, de 1893, publicada pela Editora B. L. Garnier} CASCUDO, Luis da Câmara. História da alimentação no Brasil. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia / São Paulo: EDUSP, 1983. (v.1, v. 2). CASTRO. Maurício Barros. Água na boca. Rio de Janeiro: Arte Ensaio Editora, 2010. FLANDRIN, Jean-Louis; MONTANARI, Massimo (Orgs.) História da alimentação. São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, 1998. FREYRE, Gilberto. Açúcar: uma sociologia do doce, como receitas de bolos e doces do Nordeste do Brasil. 2. ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1997. (1a ed. 1939). FRIEIRO, Eduardo. Feijão, angu e couve: ensaio sobre a comida dos mineiros. 2. ed. rev. e aum. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1982. HOLANDA, Sérgio Buarque de. Caminhos e fronteiras. São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, 3a. ed., 1994. HUE, Sheila Moura. Delícias do descobrimento: a gastronomia brasileira no Século XVI. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar Editores, 2008. LODY, Raul. Coco: comida, cultura e patrimônio. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo, 2011. __________. Brasil bom de boca: temas da antropologia da alimentação. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo, 2008. SILVA, Paula Pinto e. Feijão, farinha e carne-seca: um tripé culinário no Brasil colonial. São Paulo: Editora Senac São Paulo, 2005.
WEBSITES CONSULTED: BARÃO, Milton. Araucária tem 900 anos e 42m de altura. Milton Barão: DNA Lageano. http://saojoaquimonline. com.br/miltonbarao/?p=20259. BARBOSA, Maria do Socorro Sales. Pequi, o mais generoso fruto do cerrado. http://www. Altiplano.com.br/Pequi2.htm. Um estranho caso do coco-da-Bahia (Cocos nucifera L.). Mundo da Biologia. http://mundodabiologia.com.br/
The historical sources used by the illustrator are:BELLUZZO, Ana Maria de Moraes. O Brasil dos viajantes. São Paulo : Ed. Metalivros/ Fundação Odebrecht. 1994. 3v. References are preceded by the page number where they appear.
p.4 LISBOA, Cristovão de. Goroana/Poty. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.10 CLARKE, John. Uma banca do mercado. Intervenção de Heliana Grudzien. p.12 THEVET, André. Arbre d’Ahouai (árvore de Auai). Xilogravura. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.20 LOPO HOMEM; REINEL, Jorge e REINEL, Pedro. Mapa Terra Brasilis. Atlas Miller, 1515-1519. Interação de Heliana Grudzien. p.32 ANÔNIMO. Uma Nau. Xilogravura (1557). Pintura Heliana Grudzien. p.36 DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. Negra tatuada vendendo caju. 1827. Aquarela sobre papel. Interação com colagem de Heliana Grudzien. p.38 DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. Interação com colagem de Heliana Grudzien. p.41 DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. D. Pedro I. Interação de Heliana Grudzien. p.44 DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. Frutas tropicais. Com colagem de Heliana Grudzien. p.54 ECKHOUT, Albert. Composição com cabaça, frutas e cactos. Interação de Heliana Grudzien. p.58 THEVET, André Haut, beste qui vit de vent (fera que vive de vento). Xilogravura. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.59 LISBOA, Cristovão de. Mandioca. Desenho de pena e lápis. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.82-83 THEVET, André. Nananas, fruta muito saborosa. Xilogravura. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.100 ECKHOUT, Albert. Abacaxi e mamão. Interação de Heliana Grudzien. p.117 LISBOA, Cristovão de. Coroana/Poty. Colorido por Heliana Grudzien. p.118 ECKHOUT, Albert. Composição com cocos. Interação de Heliana Grudzien.
um%C2%AOestranho%C2%AO caso%C2%AOdo-coco-da-bahia%C2%AOcocos-nucifera-l/ LEÃO, Liana. http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/brazil/#view=grid. http://globalshakespeares.mit.edu/people/
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This text was composed in Calibri and Coniferous, printed on Polen Bold Paper 90g (text) and Duodesign 250g (cover).
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