Brazil Archives | Page 5 of 6

The Roma

April 15, 2009

I wouldn’t say that the sandwich is a popular item with locals where we live in Brazil, but they are offered at most cafes and juice shops. Since I’m not one to enjoy sitting down to a plate of rice, beans and red meat for lunch on a hot day, I truly appreciate the attempt to offer the sandwich as a culinary choice and I’ve been introduced to a lot of new fillings and combinations.

There is a juice and sandwich shop in town called Jungle Juice. They serve excellent juices, açaí in a bowl and some tasty sandwiches. The first time we stopped by there one sandwich caught my attention and it has been my favorite ever since – The Roma.

I should probably tell you that if the quesadilla from yesterday was a bit out of your comfort zone regarding the use of a mango, this one might be too. The stars of the Roma sandwich are chicken, gorgonzola cheese and mango. I originally tried it because I wanted to be adventurous, and I was not expecting how wonderful this combination turned out to be.

The sandwich is served warm and I must admit that my recreation does need some practice. My version was good, but not exactly like the one at the restaurant. The lessons I learned include: 1) It needs mayonnaise. 2) The mango needs to be very ripe and very sweet.

I’m really not a big fan of mayo. I rarely get it on my sandwiches, however, to this particular sandwich it adds the moisture needed to make it more palatable. When it mixes with the gorgonzola it really takes away the identifiable mayo flavor.

The sweetness of the mango balances the saltiness of the cheese. The combination is excellent; much like what you get from gorgonzola and pears. However, the cheese is strong, so the mango needs to be very ripe and sweet to compete with that flavor.

Interested to try it?

The Roma Sandwich

2 French rolls or pieces of baguette (I used some whole wheat sandwich rolls this time)
1 ½ cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
2 to 3 ounces gorgonzola cheese
1 mango, chopped
Mayo to taste

First, toast the bread in the oven until it is nicely browned and set aside. You can do this while you are putting the sandwich fillings together.

In a skillet, heat the chicken. Toss in the mango and heat through. Next crumble the gorgonzola and add it to the skillet. Stir to heat and melt the cheese so that it is incorporated into the chicken and mango. Salt and pepper to taste if desired.

Spread a little bit of mayo on the toasted bread and fill each sandwich roll with ½ of the chicken filling. Serve warm.

More Brazilian Dessert: Canjica

April 3, 2009

Did you know that hominy comes in another form besides the can? I didn’t. I thought hominy was simply that puffed up, wet, white corn kernel sold at the grocery store in the same spot as other canned corns. I had even used it once or twice in a pork-based chili dish.

I was reading Pink Bites a few weeks ago and came across a recipe for Canjica, a sweet dish common in southern Brazil. My first thought was – wow, I didn’t realize hominy existed in the dry form. My next thought was – I actually think I’ve had that before, but didn’t know the name. That happens a lot for me.

Corn is abundant here and not in the same processed, chemical way it is slipped into packaged foods in the US. I’m talking the ground, steamed or recipe ingredient way. There is a least one restaurant here completely devoted to all things corn and one of the items on their menu is canjica.

Canjica is both the name for the dry hominy as well as for the dish itself. It is a dessert similar to a sweet rice pudding. It combines sweetened condensed milk with the flavors of coconut and around here it has peanuts mixed in. You will need whole milk, coconut milk and unsweetened shredded coconut in addition to the sweetened condensed milk. Cinnamon and cloves are the star spices in this dish.

I won’t copy the recipe here since you can head over to Pink Bites and see her version and translation as Hominy and Coconut Pudding. She deserves full credit for my inspiration to try this dish.

I cut her recipe in half because I didn’t want it left around the apartment all week. I also skipped the peanuts. I know that is how it is traditionally made, but I wanted to simplify the flavors and enjoy the coconut. I also cooked mine a bit longer to get it thicker. I like a thicker consistency in my grain puddings.

You should be able to find the canjica at a Latin market in your area. Oh, and be sure to plan ahead as you will need to soak it overnight before getting started. It is a bit more labor intensive that a sweet rice, but completely worth it. The canjica itself gives a unique texture to the dish and then of course there is all the yummy creaminess of the milks. I like mine served warm and my husband likes his cold. It is really great both ways.

St. Pat’s Day in Brazil

March 17, 2009

Last week I set out to plan a meal I could put together for Sunday that would serve as somewhat of a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. The holiday is non-existent around here (along with Valentine’s Day) which has always confused me due to the fact that I’m living in such a Catholic country.

Anyway, I tossed around ideas for a while considering what my ingredient restrictions would be. Then a recipe came to mind. On my ex-pat blog a long while back someone mentioned that I should try Escondidinho. This was followed by a comment from another ex-pat saying that it was like a Brazilian Shepherd’s Pie.

I had forgotten about this recipe and a couple months ago my husband took me to a new restaurant in town that he had been to previously. He said there was something on the menu he wanted to try. After ordering it, eating it and feeling that the name of the dish sounded oddly familiar I went back in my bookmarks and sure enough, it had been Escondidinho. My commenters were right, it was very similar to a Shepherd’s pie type of dish.

So keeping with the spirit of the holiday and representing the fact that I do currently live in Brazil, I decided this would be our main course. With a little research I learned that as with most popular dishes there are a variety of ways of preparing it. Many recipes exist, each with their own little twist.

The one we had at the restaurant that night was made with carne seca and topped with mashed mandioca mixed with a creamy cheese here called catipury. It was delicious. However, the recipe I had was for Escondidinho de Frango (chicken). I decided to go with this one because we had already had some ground beef throughout the week and I didn’t want more red meat.

I’ve learned it is difficult to translate recipes from another language. Some things I followed exactly and others I improvised from the original recipe, slightly guessing what the translation meant.

A few notes about ingredients. This recipe, of course, called for mandioca (manioc, yucca), considering it is likely you don’t have access to this, potatoes or another root vegetable would work well. The recipe also calls for creme de leite. This is an ingredient that doesn’t exactly match anything available in the US. A Brazilain friend once told me it was “like sour cream without the sour”. The best substitute would be heavy cream or half and half, although the viscosity isn’t exactly the same. That’s about it. Everything else should be easy to find in most places.

Escondidinho de Frango
Translated and adapted from Mais Você Culinária at globo.com

Olive oil
1 onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 tomatoes without skin (I used canned, similar to whole tomatoes)
1 small can tomato sauce
1 kg (2.2 lbs) of chicken breast, cooked and shredded 2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 kg (2.2 lbs) mandioca, cooked (substitute potatoes) 2 Tbsp butter
1 can cream of milk (1/2 cup heavy cream)
1/3 cup coconut milk
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Pepper, ground nutmeg, parsley, chives and crushed red pepper all to taste

½ cup grated mozzarella

In a medium pan cook garlic and onion in olive oil until tender. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken breast and soy sauce. Heat through, stirring to break up tomatoes. Set aside.

In a bowl, use a potato ricer to mash potatoes or use a mixer, add butter.
In a mixer beat cream milk, coconut milk, parmesan cheese, pepper, ground nutmeg, parsley and minced chives and red pepper. Add the cream to your mashed potatoes and mix well.

Grease a large glass baking dish. Pour in chicken mixture. Top with potato mixture and then sprinkle with cheese. Bake or broil until cheese is melted and top is browned. Serves 6.

And what would St. Paddy’s Day be without a little Irish whiskey. So along with this…..

I also put together a cake using the star ingredient. I came across a recipe for Apple Cake in my Joy of Cooking cookbook that was perfect to modify for making a Spiked Spice Cake.

This recipe makes one 9 –inch round cake and in order to keep us from having cake around all week I just made the one layer and then cut it in half to make a half layered cake, you’ll see below. Double recipe for a full, round layered cake.

Spiked Spice Cake

1 cup all-purpose white flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup mascavo sugar (or use brown sugar)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp Irish whiskey
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients removing any lumps from the sugar. Stir in wet ingredients and mix until a smooth batter is formed. Poor into a greased and floured, 9-inch round cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes, de-pan and cool completely.

Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp Irish whiskey
Milk as needed – 1 to 2 Tbsp

Cream butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla, whiskey and enough milk to create a smooth, spreadable frosting.

The Whole Cashew – Apple, Fruit and Nut

March 5, 2009

Cashew Fruit for sale at the farmers market in Maringa, PR Brazil | Fake Food Free

Cashews have always been a favorite in our house. They are the first thing to disappear when a can of mixed nuts happens to show up at a party. Before moving to Brazil, I knew cashews were quite popular due to the fact that they are native to the country. What I didn’t know was that the cashew is popular for a very different reason than the nut we often associate it with. While the nuts can be found; here, cashew is known for its juice.

I was relatively surprised the first time I saw a whole cashew. You see, the picture to the right is of cashews from the farmer’s market in town. Being a plant/tree that is native to the northeast of Brazil the fruit is somewhat rare around here, but for a few weeks in February they do show up at one or two booths among the vendors.

When not speaking of the nut, the cashew is often called a cashew fruit, but in actuality it is made up of three distinct parts. That orange yellow part that I first thought looked like a bell pepper is called the cashew apple. It is referred to as a false fruit or pseudo-fruit in the plant world.
The cashew apple contains a high concentration of tannins which are the same substances found in tea and wine. They give the apple a very distinct taste which I’ll discuss a little later.

The kidney-shaped green stem is the fruit of the cashew and it encases the nut; the same nut that we eat and refer to in the US as simply “cashews”, called castanha de cajú in Brazil.

The green fruit contains urushiol oil, the same substance found in poison ivy and poison oak which irritate the skin. You have to be very careful when removing the nut and it is for this reason that I have never purchased a whole, fresh cashew for myself and experimented with it. In an older article from Purdue University Horticulture I read that in some countries at one point the nut was simply thrown out with the fruit due to this toxin and much more emphasis was placed on the apple.

Cashews are grown in other tropical places throughout the world such as Vietnam and India. However, unless you live very close to one of those places it is likely you will never see a whole cashew. The fruit is juicy, fragile and spoils very quickly so extended transport is not an option.

Cashew Juice served at a local cafe in Maringa-PR Brazil | Fake Food Free

I have grown to love cashew juice which is made from the cashew apple. It has a sweet flavor with a richness that resembles that of the nut. The tannins leave that familiar drying feel in the mouth which they are known for. This is the reason my husband does not prefer it, but for me it gives the juice a unique appeal.

I have noticed a difference in the juice when I order it in a restaurant versus purchasing it prepackaged in the store. I should mention that you can buy bottled pulp without sugar in the supermarket and add your own water and sweetener if desired. The fresher juice is much more astringent than the packaged.

There are ways to remove tannins and I’m wondering if this has been done to the packaged juice to make it more appealing, as I came across some research from India where they were discussing processes to reduce tannins to get more people to drink the juice for its nutritional content.

Juice from the cashew apple contains about 205 to 220 mg of vitamin C per 100 ml. During my research I found a few sources online in the UK for the cashew apple pulp to make juice.

So even if you may never have the chance to see a whole cashew in person, it is looking like you may still be able to enjoy its flavor and nutrients as the news about cashew juice begins to spread to the rest of the world.

Cashew Fruit for sale at a market in Brazil | Fake Food Free

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French Influences

February 27, 2009

It started in high school. My French teacher would have breakfast for us one Friday each month. She always brought in buttery croissants and a jar of Nutella. Super authentic, I know.

That is where my love of all things French began – the country, the culture, the language and the food. I took a break from my French obsession throughout college, but I find myself returning to it as an adult.

Maybe it was my reading of books focused on French eating practices or, what husband attributes his interest, the intrigue with No Reservations and Anthony Bourdain. I’m not quite sure the reason, but it is back. Oh yes, it is back.

We haven’t been to France yet, we are thinking about it for next year. I have a lot to learn about French cooking. Right now I know that when it comes to this particular cuisine I truly enjoy when someone else makes it for me.

And this brings me to my point. Last night we dined at the French bistro L’ Épicerie in Curitiba. Before I go on, I should mention that when dining out where we live in Brazil we often find ourselves ending the meal with the phrase, “That was good….for Brazil.”

You see, our small town does Brazilian cuisine very well, of course. However, when it comes to cuisines of other countries there is much room for improvement. This is why I love coming to Curitiba so much – the food. There is much more of a melting pot here and it shows through in the dining scene.

My husband was actually referred to this place by a man he met on a flight. This gentleman is from Curitiba and having been to Paris several times, made it clear that he actually liked this bistro better.

Quite a hefty standard to live up to, so we thought we should give it a try.

The meal was absolutely outstanding. Period. There is no “for Brazil” added to the end of that sentence. It was foodie heaven.

I had the Salmon with Ratatouille and the Gratin Potatoes as my side. The salmon was perfectly seared leaving a light crunch to the outside and immersed in a citrus glaze. The vegetables were perfectly seasoned and arrived in the cutest little Le Creuset pot. The potatoes were so rich and buttery they melted in my mouth.

My husband had the Duck Breast with a demi-glacé and apples and the julienned vegetables as his side. This meal was no less perfect. The duck was full of flavor complemented nicely by the sweet apples. The vegetables were tiny strings molded into a symmetrical mound on the plate. They were still firm and full of flavor.

For dessert we went with Crème Brule, glad we had chosen to share one as it was quite large. Crispy sugar on the top followed by a creamy vanilla center. One of the best I have had.

In a few short days I’ll be back to making my own creations. Not that this is a bad thing, but I am taking full advantage of dining out. L’ Épicerie was an outstanding find and a great lesson regarding the fact that it can be to your benefit to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you on the plane.

Lunch and Learn

February 26, 2009

I arrived back in Brazil on Tuesday and instead of heading to Maringa, my husband and I decided that we would spend some time in Curitiba (one of my favorite cities) for him to work a few days and for us to celebrate his birthday this weekend. So I met him here on my way from the US. I’ve been working from the hotel room or coffee shop with the occasional exploration.

I headed out for lunch today, not quite knowing what sounded good. I finally determined that I wanted a true Brazilian lunch. This typically means a meat, rice, another starch and beans. (Although this time mine was without beans.)

This is unusual for me as I simply can’t get accustomed to the heavy lunches here, but it was a cloudy, cool day and comfort food, or what I consider more comfort food, was in order.

I settled on a little place that is popular with the office workers around the city. It is a bit small and honestly resembles more of a pub. I’ve had my eye on it the past couple visits, but had never stopped in.

I had thought my lunch would not warrant much to write about, but happily I was proven wrong.

The daily special was frango ao molho de maracujá, chicken with passion fruit sauce. I adore sauce of passion fruit. I first had it on salmon here and whenever I see it on a menu I can hardly resist. It is basically the pulp of passion fruit, cooked down with some sugar. The crunchy seeds are left in it and it still maintains a bit of a tart taste. It is excellent with salty meat, similar to the way pineapple is often used with pork in the US.

Despite the tasty main attraction, it wasn’t the most interesting part. I noticed on the menu that a puree of mandioquinha was included. Adding the inha in the Portuguese language occurs all the time. It basically means little. So I automatically thought this meant little mandioca, or manioc, or yucca which I talked about in my post on Moqueca.

It did turn out to be a puree like a mashed potato, but it had a bright yellow color. The taste was outstanding! I’m sure it had a ton of butter in it, but it was so rich and smooth, even better than many mashed potatoes I have had.

I did some research on mandioquinha and learned that it is actually a root vegetable different from mandioca. It is also called arracacha, batata baroa and the Peruvian parsnip. It is smaller like a carrot with a brighter yellow color than a basic white potato and a richer flavor as well. They are native to the Andes and are grown and used in many countries in South America. I haven’t seen these at our farmer’s market, but I will be looking more closely for them from now on.

I found this old blog post which will give you an idea of what they looked like before they were mashed up on my plate.

So lunch turned out to be more of a culinary learning experience than I was expecting. Tonight we are headed to a French bistro so hopefully I’ll have some more interesting finds for you tomorrow.

Balsamic Pasta and Rodizio Dining

February 5, 2009

I haven’t been a fan of balsamic vinegar for very long. I used to find that its flavor was too sour, too intense. As time has gone on, I am realizing that it was more the quality I was buying that was causing the problem rather than the actual vinegar itself.

I find that I almost crave it now. I use it on my salads with olive oil all the time and my most recent discovery – balsamic vinegar with pasta.
Let me back up a little bit.

There is a type of dining here in Brazil called rodizio (hoe-dee-zee-oh). If you’ve been to a Brazilian steakhouse you somewhat get the idea, but the style extends way beyond this. Basically, you sit down to your meal and servers bring food around to you and you select as much as you want.

At a steakhouse the food of choice is meat, however, you can eat rodizio pizza, seafood, sushi and pasta in Brazil. There is a place in town that serves rodizio pasta here. I had heard that the chef was a very experienced gentleman who has lived in many cities in the world working for a Brazilian airline and their associated hotels. Lucky for us he then move to Maringa and opened his pasta rodizio restaurant.

Let me first explain that gourmet dining or anything remotely close is a rarity here. There are few nice restaurants in town, but most of them serve meat after meat after meat. There isn’t much variation or what I would call culinary skill involved. I’m not saying it doesn’t take skill to make good meat, but that is a cultural thing here. Almost all men know how to make it well. However, culinary art remains at only a couple restaurants in town.

Before I go on I must also fit in a quick aside. A few weekends ago in my links I mentioned that we eat out here much more than we did in the US because the prices are so incredibly reasonable. This meal is a perfect example. This buffet of excellent pastas served to you in a dimly lit, date-night atmosphere came in at R$15 per person. That’s U$ 6.58 a person at the current exchange rate.

Here is a bit of a photo tour of some of the dishes before I explain my balsamic dish.

First there was a salad of greens topped with a pickled eggplant and, of course, rice. I have yet to be to a restaurant here focusing on any type of cuisine that did not serve rice.

A sweet coconut flan-type cup sitting in a spoonful of an herb and pepper sauce. A very interesting contrast of flavors.

Pasta with a sauté of chopped pears and cinnamon.

The unique award went to our dessert – Chocolate Gnocchi. It was traditional homemade potato gnocchi served in a hot chocolate sauce with hot pepper. The sweet flavor with a very subtle heat in the back of the throat was perfect. I would love to try and recreate this.

There were many other things like lasagna scented with cinnamon, spaghetti with garlic and oil, and sweet potato dish with a honey mustard topping and chicken, but I will stop there.

About half way through the meal the waiter brought out this dish. I could tell right away from the smell that it contained balsamic vinegar so I gladly accepted.

It was a tortellini-like pasta fill with a strong cheese in a balsamic vinegar. Seems too simple to be exciting, but the contrast of the flavor of the cheese with the tartness of the vinegar was excellent.

I was in the kitchen the other deciding on a lunch. I had zucchini that needed to be used and then I noticed a small bowl of left over cheese tortellini from a previous meal. They sell a variety of fresh pastas in the supermarket it here and it’s an easy go-to dinner on the nights I don’t feel like putting forth much effort. So I took my leftovers and set out to recreate the dish similar to the one from the restaurant.

I was thrilled with the results and I can’t wait to make it again! I went heavy on the veggies so I would need less pasta. It is delicious, but also a bit heavy and high in calorie.

You can add the balsamic vinegar at any point during the cooking process. The heat will cook out the acidity making it sweeter. If you don’t like a strong flavor add it early. I like to add it after the dish is cooked because of the tartness and this most closely resembles the original dish.

Balsamic Vegetable Tortellini
Makes 1 serving

Olive oil
Small zucchini, chopped
¼ onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ to ¾ cup fresh cheese tortellini
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Put just a bit of oil in your skillet and sauté veggies until they reach your desired consistency. I like mine still a bit crunchy. Add pasta to heat through. Toss with vinegar and serve.

Brazilian Moqueca

January 30, 2009

I wrote this post back in 2009 when we were still living in Southern Brazil. Our friends in Maringa invited us over to teach me how to make Brazilian Moqueca. The post recaps that experience and shares the recipe Moqueca de Camarão that I put together after this hand-on cooking lesson.

I have a pretty exciting food journey for you today. Okay, at least it was exciting for me.

Last weekend a friend of mine invited my husband and me over for lunch. Her husband was going to teach me how to make Moqueca! Moqueca de Camarão to be exact.

Moqueca de Camarão is a dish from Bahia in the north. It is basically a shrimp stew served over rice, often with farofa. My friends had just taken a vacation to Salvador in Bahia and were happy to show me how to make it.

This was very exciting for me for two reasons – 1) I had never had or made the dish before. 2) I found out that a fish shop here sells fresh (not frozen) shrimp. I’ve been living here 18 months and just now found that out!

We have not yet been to the north of the country, but we hear the north and south of Brazil are like two different worlds. This was my first time eating Moqueca and I loved it. It was such a nice change from the red meat overload we get here. I’m looking forward to making it myself very soon.

I have the recipe to share with you, but I have to warn you there is a secret ingredient that I have not found out how to make yet. We’ll call it a seasoning paste. I’m pretty sure it was a paste made from garlic, cilantro, parsley and cumin, but I don’t have exact measurements. I’ll let you know when I find out for sure. It was similar to sofrito, but I’m not sure it is the same thing here.

Let’s get started.

First, this dish is made with azeite de dendê. This, I have learned, is what we call palm oil. This is traditionally used in the dish, but any oil will do if you don’t have access to it.

Next, the dish is made in a clay pot. I plan to try to get my hands on one before we move back to the States and pray it doesn’t break in the shipping process.

Ingredients were already chopped and ready to go when I got there. I was pretty much a witness to the whole thing, but I got good pictures. Anyway, I am estimating amounts based on what I saw.

Moqueca de Camarão

½ cup palm oil
2 medium onions, sliced
2 green peppers, sliced
4 cloves of garlic sliced
3-4 tomatoes, sliced
1 Tbsp seasoning paste
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
¾ to 1 cup coconut milk

Heat oil in the pot. Add onions, green peppers and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and seasoning paste. Continue cooking for an addition 3 to 5 minutes. The goal is to cook the tomatoes down into more of a sauce.

Add shrimp and cook until barely cooked through. Stir in coconut milk and simmer. Place lid on pot and continue to simmer for 7 to 10 minutes. Serve over rice.

In addition to the rice he also made farofa. Farofa is a toasted mandioca flour most often served with meats and rice and beans. Mandioca is also known as manioc, cassava and yuca. Mandioca is also used to make tapioca – just to throw in some more info for you there.

I had never seen Farofa made from scratch, but it doesn’t look hard. You add a little more palm oil to the pan, a chopped onion and then the mandioca flour and toast it up.

We had an awesome tapioca dessert too, but I’m going to save that for another post. Enjoy your Moqueca!

# 2 Beijinhos

December 24, 2008

I’ve finished up some baking this week since we returned from our trip. As much as I am craving some lighter food after a week of indulgence I know there are plenty of holiday treats coming up.

I have been wanting to make Beijinhos for a while and just happened to list them as #2 on my 30 Foods list.

The name translates to “little kisses” in English. It is a Brazilian candy that we can get at our local bakery near our apartment in Brazil.

It is basically a combination of Brigadeiro and another similarly made candy with coconut which is then combined. I’ve seen it in several different forms but where we are living it is made into a twist.

I wanted to make them a little smaller so I then cut the larger twists in half to make them bite size.

Simply follow the Brigadeiro recipe for the chocolate part. Instead of rolling them into balls, roll them into small logs and then roll them in sugar.

For the coconut part you can follow the same recipe and instead of adding cocoa, add about 1/3 cup of very finally chopped coconut. Roll them out the same way and then in sugar. I make mine the way a friend taught me in Brazil. However, I have found a recipe for Beijinhos de Coco that is different.

Next you simply twist the two candies together and then roll the whole thing in sugar again. There you have it – Beijinhos as I have them in Brazil.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thank you to each of you who read my blog and also to those who take the time to comment. I appreciate your input.

I’ll be back after the 1st and can’t wait to catch up on everyone’s writing. I’m going through a bit of blog reading withdraw!

#3 Brigadeiro

December 2, 2008

When it comes to food combinations is there anything better than chocolate and caramel? Well, okay, there are a ton of good combos, but this one is in the top five for me.

Last week I needed to do a test run of some of my upcoming holiday treats so I set out to make Brigadeiros. This food came in as # 3 on my 30 Foods List and it’s also a cultural lesson on Brazil foods. I haven’t featured a Brazilian food in a while.

I’ve found Brigadeiro everywhere I’ve been in Brazil. They love it. You can find it as the candy itself, cake flavors, ice cream bars and packaged cookies.

This candy could not be easier to make. The star ingredient is sweetened condensed milk. I know, not so healthy. I remember only using SCM for one thing growing up – fudge. Other than that we rarely purchased it.

Where I live in Brazil it is used to make almost every dessert. Oh, and they drink it too. It’s mixed into cocktails and sometimes they even drink it straight. This is certainly not a practice I’m getting into. Honestly, the cocktails make me gag.

But every once in a while you find a great thing made with the ever popular SCM that is worth the not-so-healthy status. Brigadeiro is one of those things.

Brigadeiro

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp butter, plus extra when rolling balls
2 Tbsp cocoa
½ cup chocolate sprinkles

Heat sweetened condensed milk and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly. You have to continue this process until the milk turns into a thick carame- like substance. It is ready when you stir and can start seeing the bottom of the pan. It takes about 15 minutes.

Once thickened remove from heat and add 2 heaping Tbsp of cocoa powder. Stir to combine. Put mixture into a bowl to cool. Once cool roll into balls. You’ll need to keep your hands buttered for this to keep the brigadeiro from sticking. Roll the balls in chocolate sprinkles and put in mini-liners. The recipe makes about 25.