Corn meal soup

Time of preparation: 35 min

2 tbspoons of oil
1 clove of garlic, chopped
left over meat
4 tbspoons of cornmeal
2l of boiling water
salt
pepper
stock cube (depending on the left over meat you are using: if its chicken, use chicken stock)
1 soup plate full of kale or collard green, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 eggs

Dissolve the cornmeal in a bit of cold water. Boil the rest of the water. Put the dissolved corn meal in the boiling water. On another pan, fry the garlic, meat left over and onion. Add to the boiling soup. Add the collard green or kale and let it boil for 10 min. Whisk the eggs slightely and put then in the soup, after turning the off the hob and mix it slowly.

Serve with toasts and cheese.

The collard greens or kale can be replaced by spinach, watercress or endives.

Chicken and chorizo rice

Time of preparation: 1h30min

1 chicken carcass
1 chorizo
bacon
3 tbspoons of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves
pepper
salt
1 carrot
parsley
long grain rice
3 cloves of garlic

Cook the chiken, the chorizo and the bacon in salt water. When it boils, add the onion, cloves, carrot, pepper and parsley. Let it cook slowly (about 45 min).
Remove the chicken and remove all the meat from it. Slice the carrot and the chorizo. Chop the bacon.

Sieve the broth and remove a bit of the fat. On another pan, add the olive oil and fry the garlic. Add the rice. Add the broth from the chicken (must be double the amount of the rice). Let it boil. When the rice has absorbed most of the water, but is not entirely cooked, remove it from the hob and put it in an oven proof dish. Put half the rice, add the chicken and then the rest of the rice. On top, decorate with the chorizo, bacon and the carrot.
Bake it untill cooked. Serve it with salad

Roasted chicken stuffed with bacon farofa

Farofa is made of rough cassava/manioc flour and spices and it is what we use in Brazil to stuff chicken. So, in order to make farofa, you need to buy the cassava flour or "farinha de mandioca" as we call it in portuguese.

It is worth, though. I just made it today and people were coming back for seconds and third helpings.

Time of preparation: 2h
8 portions

1 whole chicken - the season here is optional. You can season the chicken the way you preffer.
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbspoons of chopped parsley and chives
1 tspoon of thyme
salt/pepper

Put the chicken in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients in a blender, put them on the chicken, cover it and let it absorb the flavours overnight, in the fridge.


Farofa:

1/2 cup of butter OR 1/3 cup of oil
1 onion, chopped finnely
1 clove of garlic, chopped finnely
chopped bacon (about 3) or loddon (a handful)
2 handfulls of kale
2-3 cups of cassava/manioc flour
2 boiled eggs, chopped
4 tbspoons of chopped parsley and chives
salt
pepper

optional: you can also add 3 tbspoons of sweet corn and 2 tbspoons of raisins, if you want to give it a twist every now and then.

Heat up the butter in high heat. Add the onion and garlic, mixing it thoroughly, until the onion is soft. Add the bacon and fry it untill it changes colour (brown/crisp). Add the kale and wait untill they are softer. Add the manioc flour, little by little, mixing it thoroughly. Add the eggs, and the chopped parsley and chives. If you want to add optional itens, now is the time. Check the salt and pepper.

Turn on the oven (gas mark 7). Fill up the chicken with the farofa, closing the gap by stitching it or with toothpicks. Put the chicken on a baking tray and cover it with aluminium foil. Bake it for 45 min, remove the foil and bake it for another 15 min or until golden.

Bife a cavalo (Mounted steak)

Time of preparation: 20 min
4 portions

4 steaks (top rump is the best)
salt and pepper
6 eggs
oil (enough to fry)
potato chips


Season the steaks with salt and pepper. Fry the stakes on a frying pan and let them crisp. Fry one steake each time, so they don't cook in their juices.

Fry the eggs without puncturing the yolks and put them on top of the steaks. Fry the potato chips and serve.

Tomato rice (Arroz de tomate)

This is a portuguese recipe, and mostly I saw it served with fried fish, but I serve it with steaks too.

300g of long grain rice
chives
1 clove of garlic
2 tbspoons of olive oil
250g of chopped tomatoes
1 leaf of laurel (or bayleaf)
salt
pepper

Fry the chives and garlic on the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and bay leaf. Add the water (2 1/2 times the volume of rice), add salt and pepper and let it boil. Add the rice. Let it boil, put the lid on (on an angle, not to cover completely) and let it boil for 20 min.

blancmange with raisings and wine syrup

For the recipe of blancmange, click here

Syrup

100g of raisins
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of dry red wine
1 tbspoon of cornflour, dissolved in a bit of water

Mix the sugar, water and wine. Let it boil for some minutes. Add the raisings and let it cook for another few minutes. Add the cornflour and stirr it throrougly. Let it cook for 2-3 min. Put it on top of the blancmange.

Coconut blancmange

time of preparation: 30 min
6 portions

200ml of coconut milk
4 cups of milk
5 tbspoons of cornflour
10 tbsppons of sugar

In a pan, mix the milk, cornflour and sugar. Turn on the cooker and stirr it thoroughly. When it begins to boil, lower the heat and stirr it for a few minutes. Turn off the heat and add the coconut milk, stirring it. Put it in a wet tray. After cold, remove it from the tray and put a syrup on top (see next posts).

Coconut milk and raspberry mousse

time of preparation: 20 min
8 portions

1 envelope of raspberry gellow or make your own (see below, in which case you need 1 envelope of gelatine with no flavour)
1/2 cup of water
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of double cream
same measure of coconut milk

right, if you bought the one with flavour, just boil the water, dissolve the gellow and then mix them all in the blender. Done

If you want to personalise, you can make your own gelatine and, since it's raspberry season, this is my fav option:

use some 150-200g of raspberries. Put them in a pan with 3 tbspoons of sugar and the water described above. Let it boil, lower the heat and let it cook for 15-20 min. Add more water if they get too dry. Mix it all ocasionally. Right. Sieve and measure the juice. If it is around 1/2 cup, ok, if not, add more water. Put it back in the pan and let it boil again, letting it cook for another 5 min. Turn the heat off and dissolve the gelatine. There! Homemade.
Chuck it all in the blender, mix it for some 2 min and you're done.

Chicken with creamed corn

time of preparation: 30 min

1 chicken breast with no bones (or chicken breast steaks)
1 can of sweet corn
1/4 cup of milk
1 cup of double cream
1 tbspoon of corn flour
salt
chopped parsley and chives (optional)


Season and grill the chicken steaks. Meanwhile, put the corn in the blender (with the water) and let it blend for 1 min. Make sure that it is not too liquid (its good to have some pieces of corn).
On a pan, dissolve the corn flour with the milk and let it thicken. Add the corn, let it get hot and at last, turn the heat off and add the double cream. Check for salt.

Put the chicken on a plate and pour the creamed corn on top. If you want, sprinkle with parsley and chives. MUST be served with white rice.

Cocada

Cocada is a typical brazilian candy made of coconut. There are several diferent recipes avaiable but, in general, they all use yolk, milk and grated coconut.

Time of preparation: 1 hour

3/4 cup of sugar
100ml of water
1 cup of grated coconut
6 yolks
3/4 cup of flour
150ml of milk
3 tbspoons of butter (no salt)


Prepare a syrup with the sugar and water. Add the grated coconut and cook it in low heat for 10 min, mixing it with care so the sugar doesn't precipitate. Let it cool. Put the yolks through a sieve and add them to the syrup. Dissolve the flour on the milk and add it to the syrup, adding the butter too. Grease a tray with butter and bake it in water bath (bain marie) in the oven for 30 min.

Sweet corn broth

Time of preparation: 2h

6 cobs of corn
1 chicken breast (with the bone for extra flavour, but that is not necessary)
1 tbspoon of saffron
1 big onion, chopped
3 cubes of chicken stock
4 tbspoons of oil
250 of grated cheese (best: muzzarela)
1 cup of chopped parsley and chives
salt
water (enough to cook)

On a big pan, add the oil, 2 cubes of chicken stock, the chicken and more salt (if you think its necessary). Fry it a bit and add enough water to cook the chicken. Let it cook for 45 min, with the lid on.

When the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pan, let it cool down and dismantle the whole thing, getting very small fibres of the meat. Don't throw away the water in the pan.
Cut the corn from the cobs and, using a blender, mix small portions of it with the water used to cook the chicken. Add more water, if necessary.
The amount of water must be enough so that the blended corn becomes a cream, slightly thick.

On another big pan, add the rest of the oil, fry the onion, add the saffron and the last chicken stock.

Add the pieces of chicken and cook it until all ingredients have incorporated. Add the blended corn. Let it cook for 20-30 min in medium/high heat, always mixing it so it won't get stuck to the bottom of the pan. Check the salt.

If it is too thick, add water (slowly) to thin it (but don't let it become too thin, it has to be a cream). Serve it in small pots, with muzzarela on the bottom, the broth and sprinkle parsley and chives on top.

Canjica

Canjica is a kind of white corn, used for sweet popcorn and the following dish:

Time of preparation: 2 hours

1 1/2 cup of canjica (again, international food stores)
1 can of condensed milk
400ml of milk
250 of peanuts
grated cinnamon

The day before preparation, leave the canjica soaking in cold water.
24h later, drain it and cook in a pressure cooker with 2 littres of water for 2 hours
Bake the peanut until golden, put it over a napkin and crush it slowly, until the peanut releases its skin. Clean it and put it aside.
Add the condensed milk, the milk and the peanuts to the cooked canjica and let it cook for 5 min.

Serve it in small pots, sprinkled with cinnamon.

Polenta (boiled cornmeal) with mince and tomato sauce

Polenta is a traditional north italian dish that was brought to Brazil by the immigrants who settled in the south.

Very easy to prepare!

Time of preparation: 40 min

2 Littres of water
1 tbspoon of salt
2 tbspoons of butter
400g of cornmeal (thin, not too thick, which can be found in international food stores or italian shops)

Boil the water, add the salt and butter. As soon as it starts to boil again, slowly add the corn meal, mixing it thoroughly and without stopping or it won't dissolve. After you added all the corn meal, continue to mix it regularly. Ideally, the polenta has to cook for 30 min in low heat.

Put it in a oven proof dish, sprinkle with grated parmesan and cover with the sauce:

Sauce:

1 can of ready tomato sauce (the one you prefer, or you can make your own)
350g of mince

If you are making your own, you know what to do. The other day I bought a smoky bacon that worked perfectly with this dish. So, fry the mince, add the sauce to the pan, heat it up and put it all on top of the polenta. Sprinkle with grated cheese and serve.

I generally serve with white rice, since the polenta I make is very creamy and I like to mix it with rice, so there's something to chew on. You can make it more consistent too, but in this recipe I believe creamy/runny works best

Corn meal cake II (bolo de fuba)

time of preparation: 1 hour

3 eggs (4 if they are small)
1 cup of corn meal
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 cup of milk
2/3 cup of oil
1 tbspoon of baking powder
2 tbspoons of grated coconut or 2 tbspoons of grated cheese (I use one of each)


Mix it all on the blender and put it in a greased cake tray, sprinkled with sugar. Bake it in a pre-heated oven (180C) for 40-50 min or until ready.

Serve it with hot coffee

Sweet Pamonha

Pamonha can be sweet or savory. I much prefer the sweet version and that's the recipe I'm posting.

Time of preparation: 1 hour

12 cobs of corn
1 cup of water
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of grated coconut
1 pinch of salt
300g of muzzarela

husks to cover the pamonha, strings


Grate the cobs or cut the sweet corn very close to the middle of the cobs. Blend it with the water. Add the coconut and sugar, mixing it thoroughly. Put the paste on the husks and put a little piece of cheese in the middle. Close the husks (as shown on the picture) and tie them up tightly.



In a big pan, boil the water and add the pamonhas, one at a time: add one, let it boil again and add another one. The water MUST be boiling otherwise the pamonhas will fall apart. Cook it for 40 min and remove the pamonhas with the help of a fish slice. Let it cool down.

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Caldo verde (green broth)

4 portions
30 min

750g of peeled potatoes
2 littres of water, boiling
250 of green collard, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 tbspoons of olive oil
salt

for serving: 2 tbspoons of olive oil

In a pan, add the boiling water with salt. Add the potatoes and let them cook. Remove them, mash and add them to the water again. Let it boil and add the other ingredients, cook for 3-5 min. When it's time to serve, add the 2 tbspoons of olive oil.

Optional: you can add chopped calabrese to the soup.

Vinho quente (hot wine)

10 portions
20 min

1 littre of red wine
1 1/2 cups of sugar
10 cloves
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lime
1 cup of water
1 apple, diced in little cubes
cinnamon sticks (as many as you like)


Boil everything for 10 min. Serve it hot, preferable in ceramic mugs

Quentao II

Instead of cachaça, this one uses red wine:

10 portions
time of preparation: 20 min

3 littres of red wine (not dry)
300ml of water
10 cinnamon sticks
4 pieces of ginger
10 cloves
ground cinnamon (to sprinkle on top)

Make an infusion with all the ingredients (apart from the wine) and let it boil in low heat for 15 min.
Add the wine and serve it very hot, with cinnamon sprinkled on the cup.

Obs1: the smaller the piece of ginger (with greater surface) the stronger the flavour)

Obs2: Be careful not to boil it for too long after you add the wine or the alcohol will evaporate.

Quentao I

Quentão (pronounced Kan-ton) is the typical beverage of the june celebrations.
For this one, cachaça is absolutely necessary (but it's been getting easier to find, with the popularization of caipirinhas)

Time of preparation: 40min
10 portions

1/2kg of sugar
juice of 6 limes
1/2 cup of water
1/2 Littre of cachaca
10 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tspoon of ground ginger


Prepare a syrup with the sugar and water. Add all the other ingredients, let it boil and reduce the heat, cooking it for 20 min. Remove it from the heat, sieve and serve it hot (very).

Festa junina

June in Brazil is a month characterized by popular parties all over the country. These parties are historically related to the pagan celebrations of the summer solstice (around 24th of june) that were christened during the middle ages as "Saint John's parties)

Although related to summer celebrations in the northern hemisphere, June is the beggining of winter in the south. People gather around great fires (reminiscent of the pagan parties), generally in churches courtyards. Fireworks are displayed, to "awaken Saint John". A pole is assembled, with 3 flags on top, a metaphore for the 3 saints related to june celebrations.



People dress in costumes (nothing that relates to carnival) that pay homage to the simple people of the farms: men wear checked fleece shirts, old ragged jeans and simple boots, women dress in simple cotton dresses, generally with tacky patterns. During the celebrations a quadrilha is formed, in which couples perform a coreographed dance. Generally the couple that starts the dance are dressed as bride and groom (again, with poor fabric clothes) and the dance ends with a mock wedding.


Around the church courtyard where the pole is erected and the dance happens, lots of little huts are build to offer (free) or sell (for very low prices) typical food and beverage. There are games for the children and kids, charity huts (selling antiques) and the profit goes to the churches charities.

This post explaining the Junine celebrations (Festas juninas) opens a series os posts in which I'm going to detail the food we usually eat in June.


Remember, June is Brazil is winter and therefore the next recipes are better served in autumn.

If you want to know more, check the wikipedia entry.

Apple cake

Time of preparation: 1h 45 min
8 portions

3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 tspoon of baking powder
1 tspoon of baking soda
1 tspoon of ground cinnamon
2 eggs
3/4 cup of oil
1 tspoon of vanilla
3 cups of chopped apple (with the skin)
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of chopped brazil nuts or walnut

Pre-heat the oven (180*C or gas mark 5-6). In a big bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, and the cinnamon. Mix it well. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix it again, Add the apples, the raisins and nuts. Mix one more time and put it in a greased flute tube pan (about 25cm in diameter). Bake it for an 1 hour or when done.

Chicken nuggets

How to make it from scratch!!

12 units

1/2 bread (roll)
1/8 cup of water
350 of chicken breast, torn appart
1/2 onion
1/8 cup of double cream
2 tbspoons of parsley
salt

bread crums
oil (enough to fry)

add the water to the bread and mix all the other ingredients (except the bottom 2). Mix it well untill you have a homogeneous mix. Divide it in 12 parts. Mold each nugget (the way you prefer) and put them in the bread crums, frying them in hot oil.

Bolinho de chuva (rain Doughnuts)

This is sooooo easy!

100 cakes

1 cup of sugar
2 tbspoons of butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 tbspoon of baking powder
1/2 tspoon of salt
1 tspoon of ground cinnamon
1 cup of milk

3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of cinnamon

Mix the sugar, butter and eggs. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and milk. Fry tbspoon quantities of the mix in low heat heated oil. Increase the heat and let it golden, draining it over paper towel. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it over the doughnuts.

Chocolate and yogurt cake

1 2/3 cup of flour
1 1/2 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of cocoa
1 1/2 tspoon of baking soda
2 cups of greek yogurt
1/2 cup of butter
2 eggs
1 tspoon of vanilla

topping
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tbspoons of cocoa
2 tbsppons of butter
4 tbspoons of milk
1 tbspoon of golden syrup
1/2 cup of cooking sugar
sprinkles

Mix all the ingredients for the cake. Put it in a greased cake tray and bake it (gas mark 5-6).
Mix all the topping ingredients but the cooking sugar. Boil it for 3 minutes, whisking it sometimes. Let it cool down, add the cooking sugar and mix it. Decorate with the sprinkles

Cuscuz paulista (brazilian couscous)

This is not the couscous people know from Africa. Very different preparation and flavour:

1/2kg of cornmeal
1 tbspoon of manioc flour
1 cup of water with salt
1/2 cup of butter in room temperature
1 kg of shrimp
2 tbspoons of lime juice
salt
pepper
1/2 cup of oil
5 tbspoons of chopped onion
2 tbsppons of chopped coriander
1 cup of tomato puree
2 chili pepper, chopped and mashed
1 can of peas
olives

Mix the cornmeal with the manioc flour. Add the salted water little by little and mix it until you reach a farofa consistency. Add the butter, mix and let it rest. Peel and clean the shrimp, add the lime juice, pepper and salt.
Add oil to a frying pan and fry the onion and coriander. Fry the shrimps a bit, with the tomato puree and the chili. Cook it until the shrimps are done. Add the flour mix and enough water to reach a wet farofa consistency. Mix it thorougly, until it comes off the bottom of the pan. Put this mix in a tube flute pan, and pressure it against the pan, to keep its shape. Take it off the pan and decorate with olives, peas and shrimps.

Bobo de camarao (shrimp in cassava cream)

10 portions
1 hour

2kg of prawns
1kg of cassava/manioc/yuca roots (found in international food stores and pictured above)
2 medium sized onions, chopped
4 tbspoons of oil
1/2 kg of tomatoes, halved, peeled and seedless
2 tbspoons of chopped coriander
1 tspoon of pepper
1 cup of coconut milk
1/4 cup of palm tree oil (azeite de dende - international food stores)

Peel the cassava and cook it in water and salt (about 20 min). If the manioc has fibers that are too hard, you can remove them. Blend it and little by little add water (1 cup to every kg of cassava).

On a pan, fry the onion in the oil until slightely golden. Add the tomatoes and let it cook. Add the cleaned peeled shrimps, salt, pepper and coriander. Lower the heat, put the lid on and let it cook until the shrimps are cooked (about 20-30 min). Add the cassava cream, the coconut milk and the palm tree oil, mixing it well, until it boils.

Serve it with white rice, white wine or beer.

Feijao tropeiro (brazilian cowboy beans)

Another traditional way of cooking beans. Typical from Minas Gerais state, this recipe comes from colonial times (until 1900) when transport of goods was done by horses or on the back of mules. The men who guided these animals were called tropeiros and the beans prepared in this recipe became a basic meal for them.

8 portions
474 cal/portion

1/2 cup of manioc/cassava flour
500g of common beans (brown beans known in Brazil as feijao carioquinha)
250g of slab bacon, sliced in little cubes
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
1 chopped onion
1 pinch of pepper
salt

topping: chives and parsley, chopped

Let the beans soak for 2 hours. Put them in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover over 4 finger above the beans line. Cook it for 20 minutes. Drain it.
On a frying pan, fry the bacon until golden. Remove it from the pan and let it rest.
Fry the garlic and onion on the left over fat. Add the beans, the bacon and pepper. Mix it thoroughly. Little by little, add the flour, mixing it well.
Decorate it with the parsley and chives.

Bread pudding

left over bread (has to be hard)
milk
2-3 eggs (depending on the amount of bread)
1 tbspoon of corn flour
1 tspoon of grated nut meg
sugar (to taste)

Soften the bread with the milk, mixing it thorougly. Add the other ingredients in a microwave dish and cook it in max potency for 15 min.

Garlicky collard greens, Minas Gerais style (Couve a mineira)

2 bunchs of Collard greens, also known as kale
1/2 cup of oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped

wash the collard greens and cut it in thin slices. In a pan, add the oil and garlic. When it starts to golden, andd the collard. Fry it from 2 to 4 minutes.

Farofa

Farofa, can be home made or, easy enough, you can buy it at brazilian food stores. If you want to make it at home:

500g of cassava/manioc flour
1 onion, chopped
250g of butter
salt

Melt the butter and fry the onion. Add the flour and salt and mix it well, until the flour dries and golden.

I like to fry lardons and add them to the farofa.

Spice sauce for feijoada

1 cup of chopped parsley
1/2 cup of chopped chives
pepper (at wish), the more the merrier
1 1/2 cup of bean broth

Mix it all and serve it in a small bowl.

Feijoada

Feijoada is THE brazilian dish. Its historic roots come from slavery: In a sugar cane/coffee or any other plantation farm, the aristocrats lived in the Manor house and the slaves in a house called senzalas.
If you think slavery in north america was bad, it wasn't nearly as bad as what happened in Brazil. The slaves would sleep in big stable, for lack of a better explanation, men, women and children all together, with just a straw roof and gates, to lock them all there.
After the slaves slaugthered pigs for the manor house, they could have the second class remains (belly, feet, ears). Eventually feijoada became a national dish and it is served mostly on wednesdays or saturdays for lunch. Since it's a pork/beans stew, it is a heavy dish and feijoada season coincides with winter (although it's found all year around in the country).

Complete feijoada (serves 12)

2 kgs of black beans (also known as black turtle beans)
1 1/2 kg of eye of rump - Here's a link to the brazilian bovine cuts. Eye of rump (or alcatra in portuguese) is number 7.
1 kg of musculo (numbers 23 and 12), which is the meat from the legs
200g of streaky bacon, smoked
250 of streaky bacon
300g of paio, a traditional dry cured sausage, found in international food stores
300g of smoked pork loin
500g of sausage
2 tails of salted pork
400g of smoked pork ribs
500g of charqui (dry meat)
1 ear of salt pork
1 leaf of laurel (or bay leaf)
4 cloves of garlic
1 big onion, chopped
2 tspoons of pepper

One day before preparing the feijoada, soak the beans in enough water to cover them. Wash the salted meat in tap water and put them in a bowl, soaked in water. On the day of preparation wash the meat again, put them in a deep pan, cover them with water and let it boil. Drain it.
In another big pan, add the beans with the soaking water and add all the meat (salted and otherwise). Cook it until the beans are soft.

In another pan, heat up the oil and add the onion, garlic, pepper and laurel. Let it golden slowly. Add 2 laddles of beens (without the broth) and mash it. Add a laddle of broth and mix it until you achieve a cream/pasta. Add the left over beans and cook it until the beans are soft and the broth thickens. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper, if necessary. If the beans water reduces too much, you can add a bit more.

Serve it with white rice, farofa, couve a mineira or garlicky green collard and, of course, caipirinhas. Also, prepare a spice sauce to go with it, so your guests can spice up at will.

A trick is to slice oranges and put them in a table, so for every serving (with all the companions of this dish) you should have 2 slices of orange on your plate.

Brigadeiro pudding

Time of preparation: 10 min

For those who don't remember what brigadeiro is, click here.

1 can of condensed milk
1 cup of milk
5 tbspoons of dehidrated milk (powder)
1 cup of cocoa (the one children put on milk)
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tbspoon of butter
2 eggs
1/3 tspoon of salt

Topping: sprinkle chocolate

In a blender, mix all the ingredients. Grease a microwave flute tube pan (preferably) and put the pudding mix in. Bake it in max potency on the microwave for 6 to 8 min, take it off the tray while still warm and sprinkle it with chocolate.

Doce de leite (Brazilian toffee/ Milk Caramel/ Dulce de leche)

70 pieces
57 cal/piece

4 cups of sugar
2 litres of milk

In a big pan, heat up the milk and the sugar. When it starts to boil, mix it until it thickens. You know when it's done when you remove a bit of the candy and put in a glass with tap water. If, with your fingers, you can get a ball that keeps its shape, then it's done. Another hint to know it is done: if you turn the pan around 30 degrees from the stove, the candy comes off the bottom and you can see the bottom of the pan.

Turn off the heat, and mix it vigorously with a wood spoon untill the candy thickens and loses its shine. Grease a working surface and empty the pan. Cover the candy with a wet tea towel. Roll it all with a wood roll, spreading the candy which should be around 1 cm thickness.

Remove the tea towel and cut the candy, while still warm, in the shape of little rhombus. Let it cool completely and put the pieces in a cookie jar or any other recipient with lid. It lasts for a long time if stored properly

Bolo de fuba I (Cornmeal cake)

For this recipe we need cornmeal, which can be found in international food stores or italian stores, where its known as polenta.

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of cornmeal
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1/2 tbspoon of baking powder
4 eggs

It needs to be cooked in a flute tube pan.

Heat up the oven (gas mark 5-6). Mix the buter and sugar, until you get a fluffy cream. Add the eggs and mix for another 10 min. Little by little, add the cornmeal, mixed with the flour and baking powder, in between little by little of the cocunut milk. Mix it well.

Put the cake mix in greased tray and bake it for 35 min (or until you stab it with a fork and it comes off clean). Let it cool before you remove it from the tray. If you want, you can sprinkle cooking sugar over it.

Tutu de feijao

Time of preparation: 45min - 1 hour
387 cal/portion

Tutu de feijao (pronounced tout-tout de phay-jon) is a traditional dish and, again you need cassava flour, bought in special international food stores.

1/2 cup of cassava/manioc flour
1/2 tspoon of sugar
4 tbspoons of oil
500g of kidney beans (also known as red beans)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

Put the beans in a pan with enough water to cover over 3cm above the beans line. Put the lid on and cook in low heat until soft (very soft). Drain it and mash it.

Heat up the oil and fry the garlic and sugar. When the sugar starts to golden, add the pepper (let it fry a bit), the mashed beans and the cassava/manioc flour. Mix it all with a wood spoon until it starts to come off the bottom of the pan. Season with salt.

Vaca atolada ("stuck cow")

Time of preparation: 1 hour
6 portions
980 calories/portion (!!!)

This is a very traditional recipe, from the region I grew up in Brazil. Brazil is such a big country that every state or region has its own proper cuisine. I grew up in the state that provides cattle and coffe to the whole country and to several different continents. Therefore, the main cuisine there is what I like to call "farm food", which is very rich (and a bit caloric), enough to provide sustenance for the workers.

This recipe is sort off a stew and better to eat in winter, since its caloric and should be served very hot.

2 tbspoons of oil
1 tbspoon of vinager
1kg of bovine ribs, chopped in small pieces
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped and compressed
5 tomatos (without the seeds), chopped
1 bunch of parsley
1 handful of chives, chopped
1 kg of manioc/cassava, peeled and chopped. If you can't find cassava to buy (you can get it in specialised shops, international food), you can prepare it with potatoes.
salt and pepper

Season the ribs with the onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Fry it in the oil until golden. Add the tomatoes, vinager, parsley, chives and enough water to cover the ribs (boiling water). Let it cook until the meat is soft.

Add the manioc/cassava (or potatoes, if you couldn't find cassava) and enough water to cook it until soft. The trick here is not to put too much water, but enough to obtain a thick cream, with the ribs stuck in it.