Brazilian feijoada is a very famous dish known worldwide. It’s also a recipe that has many variations and every Brazilian has a special trick for making it.

Like we did before for the Caipirinha’s post, we selected some relevant content available online to show you how to make Feijoada and in the end we’ll give you our favorite recipe.

First we want to show you Nando Cuca’s video. I’d like to apologize ahead of time for the bee’s belch!

Now I’ll share with you one of our favorite versions of this popular recipe:

Brazilian Feijoada

Ingredients

1/2 lb jerked beef, diced

1/2 lb salt-cured pork loin, diced (or any other type of pork meat of your preference)

600g black beans

2 bay leaves

1/2 lb baby back pork ribs

1/2 lb pork sausage

1/2 lb spicy Italian sausage, Portuguese sausage or Chorizo

1/3 lb bacon, diced

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup “cachaça” (distilled Brazilian alcoholic beverage)

1 orange

Salt and pepper to taste

* The preparation for Feijoada should be started the day before serving.

Directions

1. Put jerked beef and the pork loin into a bowl. Fill the bowl with water and let it soak for 12 hours, changing the water every 4 hours.
2. On the following day, put 2 quarts of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Pick and wash the black beans and put them in a big bowl. Pour the boiling water over the black beans and let it soak for 20 minutes. Drain the water and put the beans aside.
3. Take the bowl with the jerked beef and pork loin and put all the contents in a large pot, add also the baby back ribs and let it boil for 5 minutes over high heat. Drain and put aside.
4. Bring 2.5 quarts of water to a boil.
5. In the unclosed pressure cooker, over high heat, sautée half of the bacon until crispy. Add the drained black beans, jerked beef, pork loin and baby back ribs, 2.5 quarts of boiling water, bay leaves and close the pressure cooker. When the pressure system starts to work let it cook for 20 minutes over low to medium heat. Wait until the pan gets cold to open it.
6. Slice the sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. Boil them for 5 minutes, drain and put aside.
7. In a big pot add olive oil and sautée the onions, garlic, and other half of the bacon. Add the sausages, the black beans stew and cachaça.
8. Wash the orange and put it inside the pot without removing the skin or cutting it. It will remove part of the fat.
9. Cook over a low heat for another 20 minutes or until all the meat and beans are tender. If needed add more water during this step.
10. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the orange and serve.

Serve the Feijoada with sautéed collard greens  (cut and sautéed with minced garlic,) vinagrette, orange halves, rice and farofa (in this case, I would make a farofa with bacon and olives, instead of passion fruit).

Dedo de Moça’s special trick:

If you like spicy food, make a special spicy sauce to be served with the Feijoada. Use one cup of the feijoada stew (without beans and meat) and mix with small diced cayenne peppers and 3 tablespoons of vinagrette.

“Bom apetite!”

Servings: 10 to 12

Difficulty: Difficult

Preparation Time: Starting the previous day plus an additional 3 hours

For all others recipes using meat we suggest some substitutes for the cuts of meat we have in Brazil, so you won’t get stuck in translating and trying to understand all of the differences.

1. Rabo – Oxtail

2. Lagarto – Eye of the Round

3. Coxão Duro – Outside Round

4. Coxão Mole – Top Inside

5. Músculo – Shank

6. Patinho – Knuckle

7. Picanha – Rump Cap or Top Sirloin Cap

8. Alcatra – Rump Steak

9. Contra Filé – Sirloin

10. Filé Mignon – Tenderloin

11. Aba de Filé – Skirt of Tenderloin

12. Fraldinha – Skirt Steak or Bottom Sirloin

13. Ponta de Agulha – Short Ribs

14. Capa de Filé – Prime Rib

15. Acém – Chuck

16. Braço, Pá ou Paleta – Shoulder

17. Peito – Breast

18. Pescoço – Neck

19. Filé de Costela – Rib Eye Steak

20. Maminha de Alcatra – Tri-Tip

21. Cupim – Rump

Now that you know all about Brazilian cuts of meat, let’s prepare a delicious Brazilian Feijoada?

This dish is called “Cuscuz Paulista”, which means “Cuscuz” from the Brazilian state of São Paulo.

My mom has made this recipe for as long as I can remember and my mother-in-law makes this recipe as well. Apparently everyone in São Paulo has their own version of this dish.

Last year we taught this recipe at one of our cooking classes. This cooking class was very special for us because we were teaching the client’s cook special dishes that would be served for her wedding at home. After the wedding they told us that everyone loved those dishes. We were very happy to be part of such a wonderful moment. We love to work as personal chefs!

This is one of the recipes that we made. As we always say: “Bom apetite”!

Ingredients

3 oz yellow flaked corn meal

2 oz yucca flour (* if you can’t find it, use an additional 2oz of yellow flaked corn meal)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 minced garlic clove

1/2 onion, diced

2 oz small diced pepper (green and red)

5 oz palm hearts, drained and cut in rounds

4 oz tomato paste

6 oz canned sardines (in oil), drained

3/4 cup boiling water

3.5 oz frozen peas

0.5 oz cut green olives

1 fresh bay leave

2 boiled eggs, sliced

1/2 lb medium to large sized shrimp, cleaned and deveined (equals to 1lb headed and unpeeled shrimp)

parsley and scallions minced to taste

paprika, salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook shrimp in a double boiler and put it aside.

2. Mix yellow flaked corn meal and yucca flour in a bowl.

3. In a pan, heat the olive oil and sautée the onions and garlic.

4. Add pepper and shrimp and continue sautéeing the ingredients for a few minutes.

5. Add tomato paste, water, peas and let it boil for 5 minutes.

6. Add olives, palm hearts, paprika, the bay leave, parsley, scallions, sardines and season with salt and pepper.

7. Add the mixture of flour, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly until the consistency is like a very thick sauce. Let it cook for 5 minutes.

8. Grease the custard mold with olive oil and decorate it with palms hearts , peas, egg slices and shrimp.

9. Spread the mixture inside the custard mold.

10. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Unmold it and serve.

Servings: 10

Difficulty: Easy

Preparation Time: 1 hour

In June, there’s a famous festival, everywhere in Brazil, called “Festa Junina” to celebrate the Catholic Saints – Santo Antônio, São João and São Pedro.

There are always many colorful decorations hanging all over the place.

It usually takes place in a large open space outdoors called an arraial and people dress up as farmers, or country folks, with straw hats and plaid shirts or dresses. Couples dance a kind of square dance called a quadrilha where there’s always a mock bride and groom getting married.

At the June Festival, there are many kinds of typical Brazilian food served, most of them using one (or all!) of those ingredients: corn, coconut and cinnamon.

For me, the best food at this celebration is the “cocada” and I’ll share my recipe with you.

Traditions aside, it’s a recipe that can be made anytime during the year!

“Cocada”

Ingredients

10 oz fresh shredded coconut (* if you can only find packaged coconut flakes, you can try to make another recipe called beijinho – little coconut kisses)

1 can of condensed milk

1 egg yolk (passed through a sieve)

3,5 oz of coconut milk

2 whole cloves (optional)

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until cocada gets creamy and thick.
2. Serve hot or chilled.

Servings: 6

Preparation time: 35 minutes

Dificulty: Easy

We would like to introduce you to this versatile Brazilian recipe, which is always served with “churrasco” (barbecue).

The tanginess of the vinegar plus the smoothness of the olive oil combined with onion, tomatoes and parsley and you will give you a flavor like no other. This side dish enhances the flavor of the meat perfectly.

Remember, you can always add your personal twist to all recipes.

Want to substitute parsley for another fresh herb? Sure. Want to try it with your favorite vegetable dish? The sky is the limit for creative cooking!

Enjoy!

Vinagrette

Ingredients

2 tomatoes, small diced

1 onion, small diced

2 tablespoons of minced cut parsley

1/2 cup of olive oil

1/6 cup of vinegar (you can try different vinegars to see how it tastes)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Wash and cut vegetables. Set aside.

2. Mix all ingredients together on a mixing bowl. Season to taste.

* Vinagrette tastes better after a few hours in the refrigerator.

Servings: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

This is the best example of comfort food for me.

I remember the pleasure of being a little girl, and being invited to birthday parties. That’s because, to me, birthday parties = brigadeiro!

I used to get to the party, and even before wishing happy birthday to the kid, I’d go straight to the cake table and grab at least 3 brigadeiros. I must confess that, even now in my age, I still do this. The only difference is that I get to wish the person happy birthday first.

This is a treat that people don’t usually make for themselves, at least not rolled into little balls.

What Brazilians normally do, is that they cook the brigadeiro and eat it directly from the pan while watching tv, for example. It’s a very good confort food for a cold and rainy day. Igf you feel a little blue… it’s gonna cheer you up!

Ingredients

1 can condensed milk

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon butter

1 oz chocolate flakes

butter as needed (to grease hands)

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a pot and bring it to a simmer, whisking constantly over medium heat.

2. Stop cooking when the consistency of the brigadeiro gets thick and while stirring you can see the bottom of the pan. Let it cool down.

3. Put some chocolate flakes in a plate and set aside.

4. Grease you hands with butter and make little balls with the cold brigadeiro dough. Roll the brigadeiro balls over the chocolate flakes and put inside the paper liner.

As we say in Portuguese, “Bom apetite”!

Servings: 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: medium

Brazilians love pão de queijo! Anytime is a good time to have them: breakfast, snacks during the day, picnics…

In the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais state it’s common to have coffee many times during the day, always accompanied with some cheesebread.

When I used to live in NY, one of my Brazilian friends that came to visit me brought with her a bag of polvilho azedo. I was very happy with the ingredient and then prepared cheesebread for all my American friends. It was a blast, they loved it!

Brazilian Cheesebread

Picture: Paula Tanaka Camara

Ingredients

500g polvilho azedo

150ml water

150ml vegetable oil

150ml milk

1 Tablespoon of salt

3 eggs

1/2 oz (80g) shredded parmesan cheese

* For those who cannot find these ingredients, there’s a variation of the recipe in this link.

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl put polvilho azedo and parmesan cheese.

2. In a pan over medium heat add water, oil, milk, salt and bring to a boil. Pour this mixture over the polvilho and mix well. Let is cool down.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing with your hands.

4. Make little balls and put them on a sheet pan (no need to grease the pan).

5. Preheat the oven and bake at 400F for 25 minutes or until the cheesebread is golden brown.

Tip: Unbaked cheesebreads freeze very well. You can make them in advance and keep them in the freezer.

This side dish is made everywhere in Brazil.

There are many variations of this recipe.

It can be done with bacon, olives, bananas… let’s make our special Farofa with passion fruit?

Ingredients

9 oz yellow flaked corn meal

2/3 cup unsalted butter

1 passion fruit (seeds and pulp only)

1/2 cup passion fruit juice (juice from concentrate or fresh)

1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions

1. In a large skillet, melt half of the butter. Add the corn meal and cook until golden brown. Put it aside.
2. In the same pan add passion fruit pulp, seeds, juice and sugar and allow it to boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly. If  it dries too quickly add ¼ cup of water.
3. Add the rest of the butter and corn meal prepared before and cook again until all ingredients are well mixed and the farofa is hot and crunchy. Serve immediately.

* Farofa is a dish usually made with corn meal, cassava root flour or breadcrumbs with vegetables or meat.

** Serve as a side dish with fish, chicken or meat.

Servings: 8

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

We all have heard about brazilian caipirinhas, right? They are as famous as brazilian women, carnaval… we know that!

Well, here we selected some of the most revelant videos on youtube about the art of making a brazilian caipirinha.

We first selected a video from nandocuca, that quickly show you how to make a caipirinha:

Then, we selected a video, in portuguese, from one of the most famous barman in São Paulo, but the image tells you everything you need to know.

One of the most asked questions is Brasil is: is your caipirinha shaken or stirred?

We asked our chefs at Dedo de Moça how they make their own caipirinhas and here are the answers:

For you one of our favorite caipirinha recipe:

Lemon Caipiroska with ginger, honey and mint

Ingredients

¼ cup honey

Crushed ice to taste

2 lemons (juice)

1 Tablespoon of fresh sliced ginger

6 mint leaves

1/3 cup of vodka (can be made with cachaça or sake)

sugar to taste

Directions

1. Spread honey inside and around the glass (like milkshake syrup).

2. Place crushed ice in the glass. Add lemon juice, ginger and mint.

3. Add vodka an sugar if necessary.

Servings: 1

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Dificulty: easy

Today we are hosting an event to a big international company.

There are 25 foreigner executives coming from all over to experience an evening at a brazilian home.

We are taking them with us to buy ingredients, them to a cooking school (rented especially for that) and finally we are going to teach them how to cook a typical brazilian dinner.

I’m afraid I’m not allowed to tell anything else… but I’m sure they are going to enjoy it!

Check out our menu: