Brazilian Feijoada

In today's post we are going to show you how to prepare a delicious Feijoada, a bean stew in a thick sauce (salsa espesa) and it's one of the most typical Brazilian dishes. Let's be exotic!

The Feijoada is made of black beans and many varieties of meat, both fresh (fresca) and cured. It is generally served with side dishes (acompañamientos) of rice, fried cabbage and fresh oranges. Start your meal off with a “caipirinha”, Brazil’s famous national drink. They are also easy to make, using just made from Brazilian sugarcane liquor sugar-cane brandy (like Cachaça) limes lemon juice, sugar and ice.

Ingredients (for 15 people)

1 1/2 kg black beans

2 bay leaves (hojas de laurel)

250g lean (magro) smoked (ahumado) bacon

1 small pig’s trotter (pie de cerdo)

1 small pig’s ear (oreja de cerdo)

500g smoked ham (jamón ahumado) sausage

500g smoked pork sausage

1 large fresh sausage

250g smoked rib (costilla ahumada)

1 kilo pork loin (lomo de cerdo)

4 teaspoons (cucharada pequeña) of olive oil

3 cloves of garlic (dientes de ajo)

Salt

8 oranges

White rice

Cabbage (col)

Chilli sauce

 

  Method

The night before cooking: Wash the beans and soak (poner en remojo) them in water. Wash the pig’s trotter and pig’s ear.

On the morning of cooking: Boil (hierve) the beans in the water,you used to soak them, together with the bay leaves and bacon. After one hour, add the pig’s trotter and ear, the smoked ham sausage, the smoked pork sausage, the fresh sausage, the smoked ribs and the fresh loin. Add water occasionally, to make sure the meat is always covered with the broth.(caldo) Skim espuma) the fat off (grasa) the surface of the cooking pot from time to time. When the beans are soft, add three cloves of garlic. Take out 6 teaspoons of beans and mash (hazlas puré) them to make a paste. Mix the paste with the stew. Reduce the heat under the pan and taste (prueba) the stew. Add salt if you need it.

Put all the meat (cut into small pieces) on one large dish and the bean stew separately on another dish. Serve your meal with 8 oranges, peeled and sliced,(cortada en lonchas) boiled (hervido) white rice, fried cabbage and Chilli sauce.

 

 

 If you want to try it, here you have a very educative video on how to cook a nice Feijoada.