My Take on a Brazilian Dinner

So, if you haven’t quite guessed it, Ive been in Brazil for a bit.  But when I came home I wanted to try and bring a bit of the culture back with me, so for one of the first nights home I made my family my best effort at a Brazilian dinner.  This included several of the staples, rice, beans, and sliced veggies.  But I also took my hand at making some of the more intricate dishes such as frango com bacon (chicken and bacon), pao de quiejo (a cheese bread), beijinho (coconut fudge thing), and a few other scatterings.  So here is some recipes so you can recreate it for yourself!

 

Sautéed Greens

Ingredients:

• collard greens
• garlic
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• lemon juice

How to:

1. Start by peeling and dicing up about 6 cloves of garlic for 1 bunch of collard greens.
2. Then heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan (the collard greens will take up a lot of space at first but cook down to nothing)
3. Then slice up your collards into ribbons, the thinner the better in my opinion
4. Then put your garlic in the oil and cook until fragrant then add your collards and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until it is wilted
5. add salt and pepper while cooking, it needs a decent amount of seasoning
6. once they are wilted, remove from heat, add a squeeze of lemon juice and serve immediately.
7. SO easy, but really good!

Pao de Queijo 

Ingredients:

• tapioca flour (or yucca flour if you can find it)
• sharp cheddar cheese ( a block)
• parmesan cheese (a block)
• milk
• eggs
• olive oil
• salt and garlic powder

How to:

1. in a sauce pan heat up 1/2 a cup of oil, 1/3 cup water, and 1/3 cup milk.  Once it is boiling remove from heat and immediately add 2 cups of tapioca flour.
2. You want to make sure that all the flour is wet at this point but it is a very odd consistency, kind of like glue, which is okay.  Let this rest for 10/15 minutes
3. While you wait you want to shred about a cup of cheese, with a 2:1 ratio of parmesan to cheddar.  You can use the pre- shredded stuff, but its apparently better this way
4. Mix the cheese with 2 beaten eggs then mix that together with flour mixture.  Make sure everything is well incorporated.
5. I lightly greased the pan, but you could do without.  Roll the dough into a little (or big) balls and place on the pan.  Then cook at 375 for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown.
6. These are an interpretation of what pao de queijo is, if you can I suggest you try the real thing, they are addictive.

Frango com Bacon

Ingredients:

• chicken
• bacon

How to:

1. cut chicken tenders into big bite sized pieces
2. take raw bacon and cut a piece that is big enough to wrap around the chicken, then wrap it around it, shove a skewer through it, and grill.
3. It takes about 10/15 minutes and the crispier the better (don’t worry the chicken stays moist)
4. REALLY easy, and fun

Beijinho

Ingredients:

• sweetened condensed milk
• butter
• coconut

How to:

1. In a saucepan heat up 1 can of sweetened condensed milk with 1 tablespoon of butter
2. Cook this until it is half the amount, it will become nice and thick, not solid, but thick
3. Take it off the heat and mix with 1/2 cup shredded coconut.  Leave this to cool for a few minutes
4. Then place in a greased/buttered bowl (this is VERY important or you wont get it out of the bowl, I suggest butter because it tastes better)
5. Once it is cool, butter your hands, take a piece, roll it into a ball, then roll it in more shredded coconut.  Some people roll it in sugar, I prefer more coconut.
6. Its best cold, but you can also eat it hot, with a spoon right out of the pan 😀
7. Not a fan of coconut?  You can make it just plan flavored or chocolate by adding a bit of chocolate powder instead!!

 

 

Hopefully you can enjoy these recipes as much as I have 😀