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Acarajé
Acarajé (Portuguese pronunciation: [akaɾaˈʒɛ] listen (help·info)) is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê (palm oil). It is found in Nigerian and Brazilian cuisine. It is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, especially in the city of Salvador, often as street food, and is also found in most parts of Nigeria and Ghana
It is served split in half and then stuffed with vatapá and caruru – spicy pastes made from shrimp, ground cashew nuts, palm oil and other ingredients. A vegetarian version is typically served with hot peppers and green tomatoes. In Nigeria, it is commonly eaten for breakfast with gruel made from millet.
Akara (as it is known in southwest and southeast Nigeria) was a recipe taken to Brazil by the slaves from the West African coast. It is called "akara" by the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria and in the Yorubaland of southwestern Nigeria, "kosai" by the Hausa people of Nigeria or "koose" in Ghana and is a popular breakfast dish, eaten with millet porridge.
Today in Bahia, Brazil, most street vendors serve acaraje are women, easily recognizable by their all-white cotton dresses and headscarves and caps. The image of these women, often simply called "Baianas", frequently appears in artwork from the region of Bahia. Acaraje, however, is typically available outside of the state of Bahia as well, including the markets of Rio de Janeiro.
Moqueca (Portuguese pronunciation: [moˈkɛkɐ]) is a traditional Brazilian seafood stew. Brazilians have been making Moquecas for 300 years. It basically consists of fish, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, and additional ingredients. It is cooked slowly, with no water added.
Its two variants are Moqueca Capixaba from Espírito Santo state in the Southeast, and Moqueca Baiana from Bahia state in the Northeast.
Moqueca Capixaba
This variety of Moqueca is native to the state of Espírito Santo. This version of the dish is influenced by Native Brazilian cuisine. Olive is used instead of palm oil (as in the Bahian version); coconut milk is never used, urucum pigment is added, and it is always cooked in a traditional clay pan. It's possible to make Moqueca Capixaba with fish, shrimp, crabs, sea crab or lobsters. The dish is usually seasoned with onion, tomatoes, cilantro, chives, and a lot of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The Capixaba Pan
Capixaba Pans are made with black clay and mangrove tree sap. After being shaped and fired, sap is re-applied. This blackens the clay and makes it water resistant. The pan must be seasoned with oil a couple of times before use.
This typical dish is very important to Vitória, and the city is home to a grass roots organization of pan-makers known as As Paneleiras.
Moqueca Baiana
The version of Moqueca made in Bahia is influenced by African cuisine. In addition to the basic ingredients, palm oil (dendê), coconut milk, shrimp, or crab are added.
Brazilian feijoada
Recipe
The Brazilian feijoada is prepared with black turtle beans, with a variety of salted pork and beef products, such as salted pork trimmings (ears, tail, feet), bacon, smoked pork ribs, at least two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef (loin and tongue).
This stew is best prepared over slow fire in a thick clay pot. The final dish has the beans and meat pieces barely covered by a dark purplish-brown broth. The taste is strong, moderately salty but not spicy, dominated by the flavors of black bean and meat stew.
Side dishes
In Brazil, feijoada is traditionally served with rice, and accompanied by chopped fried collard greens (couve mineira), lightly roasted coarse cassava flour (farofa) and peeled and sliced orange. Other common side dishes are boiled or deep-fried cassava, deep-fried bananas, and pork rinds (torresmo). A pot of hot pepper sauce is often provided on the side. The meal is often washed down with cachaça, caipirinha, or beer.
Tradition
Since it is a rather heavy dish that takes several hours to cook, feijoada is consumed in Brazil only occasionally, always at lunch time. Traditionally, restaurants will offer it as the "daily's special" only once or twice a week, usually on Wednesdays, Saturdays, or sometimes on Sundays. (As a traditional holdover from old Catholic dietary restrictions, the Friday's special dish is more likely to be fish.) However, some restaurants will serve feijoada all week long.
History
A popular myth states that the Brazilian feijoada was a "luxury" dish of African slaves on Brazilian colonial farms (engenhos), as it was prepared with relatively cheap ingredients (beans, rice, collard greens, farofa) and leftovers from salted pork and meat production. Over time, it first became a popular dish among lower classes, and finally the "national dish" of Brazil, offered even by the finest restaurants.
However, historians like Luís da Câmara Cascudo consider that feijoada is a Brazilian version of stews from Southern European countries like France (cassoulet), Spain, Italy and, of course, Portugal. Traditional Portuguese bean-and-pork dishes (cozidos) like those from the regions of Estremadura and Trás-os-Montes are the ancestors of Brazilian feijoada. The earliest printed references to the dish appeared in the mid-19th century, based on menus of upper-class, urban restaurants.
Cozido or cocido is one of the traditional dishes of Portuguese and Spanish cuisine. A stew made with different meats and vegetables, numerous regional variations exist throughout Portugal and Spain.
Portugal's cozido
The Portuguese cozido has its origins in the Beira region and is commonly referred to as Cozido à Portuguesa. A rich stew made from shin of beef, pork, and, in some regions, chicken served with cabbage, carrots, turnips, Portuguese smoked sausages (morcela, farinheira and chouriço), rice, potatoes, and collard greens.
Spain's cocido
Spanish stews or cocidos, as they are called in Spanish, are typical main dishes in Spain, particularly in the central and northern regions of Spain, typically consisting of meats, sausages, vegetables and garbanzo beans or chickpeas. The most famous is the Cocido Madrileño or Madrid Stew. In this version beef, ham, salt pork, chorizo, morcilla, a stewing chicken, garbanzos, potatoes, cabbage and carrots are the ingredients besides onion and garlic. Often a pig's trotter and a marrow bone and variations of other seasonal vegetables are included. One variation involves the broth of the cocido served as soup before, often with Spanish pasta in it.
