13 May

Feijoada is Brazil’s national dish, and is one of the things (along with Brazilian Churrasco BBQ and Caiparinhas) that you must try when visiting the country. It’s a black bean stew of Portuguese colonial origin, although is more commonly associated with slave era when when slaves would fill out the stew with the less desirable cuts of pork which their slave-owners refused to eat. Nowadays, its made using better quality cuts of pork, bacon and chorizo sausage.

The ingredient list below is approximate, and you don’t need to limit yourself to the items or quantities shown below. Since it’s a stew, feijoada is generally made with whatever other ingredients and meats are available - mixing pork with beef. Personally I like to throw in some Spanish chorizo as it gives the dish a spicier taste. Corned beef is an easier to find (and better IMHO) alternative to Brazilian Carne Seca (dried beef).

Ingredients

Ingredient Name	Quantity
Black turtle beans	1kg
Various Pork-based sausages and chorizos	1kg
Bacon rashers	4 (or vary to taste)
Corned Beef, cubed	1kg
Bay Leaves	3 leaves
one medium-sized onion, finely chopped
Minced garlic	2 teaspoons
Olive or vegetable oil
Salt and pepper	vary to taste

Preparation:

Step 1:

Rinse the beans and leave them to soak overnight, making sure they’re completely covered. The beans will soak up the water and soften, making them better for the stew. The alternative is to cook the beans in a pressure cooker - achieving the same thing without the overnight wait.

Step 2:

Pour a little olive or vegetable oil into a frying pan. Add the chopped onion and garlic. Sauté these until transparent.

• Transfer these to a large saucepan or stock pot, then add the bacon and sausages into the frying pan and cook these until ready. Transfer these into the saucepan also.

• You might possibly opt to also fry or sear the cubes of corned beef. This doesn’t make too much difference to be honest - but, in theory, it seals the beef so that the flavour gets retained when its in the stew.

Step 3:

Add all ingredients into a large saucepan or stock pot. Top up with water, and simmer for about an hour.

Serving:

Feijoada is generally served with rice, slices of orange, and farofa (toasted manioc/cassava flour which may be available from Brazilian specialty stores and delicatessens). If you’re in Brisbane then the farofa and other Brazilian products are available from Pennisi Cuisine. If you’re in Wellington NZ then try Ontrays in Petone.

One word of warning - feijoada is quite a heavy meal, so don’t serve it if you’ve got anything particularly active planned. It’s perfect more for a Sunday lunch.

Photos by Vinicius Tupinamba / Shutterstock

Tags: Feijoada, Brazil, Recipe