Sunday 22 August 2010

B for Brazil


Brazil shares a border with almost every other country in South America--only Chile and Ecuador are untouched--and covers almost half the continent. It is the fifth largest country in the world, behind Russia, Canada, China, and the U.S.A., with an area of eight and a half million square kilometers.Despite its vast expanse of territory, Brazil's population is concentrated in the major cities of its coast. The urban sprawls of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo dominate the southern coast. Further north, towns such as Salvador and João Pessoa retain the colonial atmosphere of the early Portuguese settlers. The great interior, much of which is covered by the rainforest basin of the Amazon, remains sparsely settled.


FOOD

Brazilian cuisine, like Brazil itself, varies gre
atly by region. The natural crops available in each region add to their singularity.Root vegetables such as cassava (locally known as mandioca, aipim, or macaxeira), yams, and peanuts[citation needed], and fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, mango, papaya, guava, orange, passionfruit, pineapple, and hog plum are among the local ingredients used in cooking. Brazilian pine nuts called pinhão grow in a tree that is abundant in the southern part of Brazil, and are a popular national snack, as well as a lucrative export. Rice and beans are an extremely common dish, as are fish, beef and pork. Some typical dishes are caruru, which consists of okra, onion, dried shrimp and toasted nuts (peanuts and/or cashews) cooked with palm oil until a spread-like consistency is reached; feijoada, a simmered bean-and-meat dish
; tutu de feijão, a paste of beans and cassava flour; moqueca capixaba, consisting of slow-cooked fish, tomato, onion and garlic topped with cilantro; and chouriço, a mildly spicy sausage. Salgadinhos, cheese bread, pastéis and coxinha are common finger foods, while cuscuz branco, milled tapioca, is a popular dessert. Brazil is also known for its cachaça, a popular native liquor used in the Caipirinha cocktails


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Feijoada
You will have to go to a Portuguese or Brazilian Deli or Supermarket to get most the meats and seasoning, we visited Luis Deli and the staff were kind enough to take us round the shop and fill up a basket with the ingredients required.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp Oil
2 cloves of garlic chopped
2 Shallots
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp corn flour
250g black beans rinsed and soaked over night in water (keep water)
100g bacon pieces
100g Brazilian carne seca
200g pork loins chopped into bite sizes
2 kinds of spicy Brazilian sausages
1 tbsp of Zaeli - Tempero Completo

Methodology:-
Heat the oil and then add the bacon, pork, garlic shallot and brown for 20 minutes.
Add tomato purée stir in and fry for 1 min
add sausages, carne secand, cornflour Add black beans with black bean waster until all meat is covered
Add Tempero completo and Season to taste.
Cover and cook on low/Medium head for 3-4 hours

Serve with boiled rice.


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Caipirinha's
Measurements for 1 cocktail as follows
1 or 2 shots of Cachaça
1 whole Lime quartered
1 tsp of caster sugar
4 ice cubes

Methodology
Put 4 lime quarters in glass with caster sugar and smash and juice with back of rolling pin for 30 seconds
add Cachaça and ice cubes and stir

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Overview
Lovely wholesome dish, ideal for having a few NON- vegetarian friends round and let them help themselves to the Feijoada and rice and keep those Caipirinha's flowing and your in for a good night.

Caipirinha



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