Top 10 Traditional Dishes You Must Try in Brazil

Kris [email protected] April 14, 2021 | 10:58

Have a plan to travel to Brazil this summer vacation? Check out the top 10 traditional Brazilian dishes you must try below!

Top 10 Traditional Dishes You Must Try in Brazil

Photo: Two Monkeys Travel Group

Brazil is a huge country of varying climates and mixed terrains with an extensive coastline and an interior that is dominated by vast swathes of rainforest.

Down the centuries, it has seen wave after wave of immigration from all corners of the world, giving it a rich and diverse culinary heritage that makes it a dedicated foodie’s dream.

Here are some of the most famous dishes that represent the cooking from different parts of the country that you should look out for on any trip to Brazil.

1. Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese rolls)

Photo: Tudo Rustoso

Pão de Queijo are mini cheesy puffs in a ball-like shape that are soft but chewy and puffy, as cited by Trafagar. The recipe is simple with the following ingredients: tapioca flour or tapioca starch, eggs, milk, cheese + a pinch of salt. Brazilians often eat these delicious cheese rolls for breakfast. But be careful: they are devilishly addictive!

2. Picanha (Barbecued meat)

Photo: The Spruce Eats

Brazil and Argentina both claim to be South America’s barbecue champion. And while each country takes a different approach to its meat, from the cuts to the accompaniments, some things remain the same – namely, the ogre-sized quantities of meat, best appreciated at a leisurely pace and with an elasticated waistband, reported BBC Good Food.

In Brazil, premium cuts (the most popular being picanha, or rump cap) are seasoned with no more than a liberal shake of coarse salt, before being grilled to pink perfection over charcoal (or wood, if you’re doing it the old-fashioned Southern way). Home barbecues will see sausages, queijo coalho (squeaky cheese on a stick) and chicken hearts sharing space on the grill, while in churrascarias (barbecue-style steakhouses), all manner of meats on skewers – from pork to lamb and wild boar – will be sliced by waiters straight onto your plate.

3. Feijoada (Black bean stew)

Photo: Simply Recipes

Feijoada is a rich, hearty stew made with different cuts of pork and black beans. It is the national dish and is served countrywide. Traditionally, it’s made with offal such as trotters and ears which are slow-cooked and the whole process can take up to 24 hours (which is why most people just have it in restaurants nowadays). Caldinho de feijão is a lighter version which contains less meat.

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4. Moqueca de Peixe (Brazilian seafood stew)

Photo: Food and Wine Magazine

This fish stew is a very typical traditional Brazilian dish that originated in the Northeast of the country, in the state of Bahia. The word moqueca comes from the native expression ‘moquem’ which means ‘a stick for grilling or roasting on hot coals’. This word was born of the natives’ habit of cooking fish and meat wrapped in leaves, often banana leaves, over a fire on a skewer. Today, moqueca is usually prepared in a clay pot and stewed in coconut milk along with other small fish without bones and shrimps, with the addition of onions, garlic and coriander.

5. Cachaça

Photo: Freepik

Dating back to the 1500s, cachaça is made from fermented sugarcane juice and is best known as the fiery kick in caipirinhas – Brazil’s national cocktail. While caipirinhas are often made with uncoloured, unaged cachaças, there are thousands of better-quality golden varieties available, aged in wooden barrels and sipped straight up by aficionados.

For the morning after, clear your head with a Guaraná Antarctica (a sweet, fizzy soft drink), an água de coco (coconut water, best sipped straight from the coconut) or caldo de cana (freshly pressed sugarcane juice).

6. Brigadeiros

Photo: Epicurious

Brazil’s version of the chocolate truffle. They are a kids’ favorite (or anyone with a sweet tooth) are very easy to make. Condensed milk is simmered with cocoa powder, mixed with butter, and then shaped into balls and covered in sprinkles. They are named after the 1940s political figure Brigadier Eduardo Gomes and have been popular since the World War II.

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7. Pato No Tucupi

Photo: Villa Germania

Pato no tucupi – or “duck in tucupi sauce” – is a traditional dish from the large northern state of Pará and is associated particularly with the city of Bélem, where it is considered one of the region’s most iconic dishes.

It is a typical example of the type of cooking that makes use of local products available from the Amazon jungle.

The duck is cooked in tucupi sauce, a yellow sauce that is obtained by fermenting wild manioc root from the forest. However, the juice from the root is poisonous when raw and must be boiled for around three to five days before it can be eaten.

8. Pastel de nata

Photo: Living Tours

This Portuguese egg tart topped with powdered sugar and cinnamon is world-famous. Made of a puff pastry filled with a custard made of cream, egg yolks, sugar, flour and lemon zest, it is mouth-watering and addictive. The competition for the best pastel de nata is fierce not only in Lisbon, in Brazil some bakeries keep their recipe secret and have people queuing outside for hours to try the best of the best.

9. Acarajé (pronounced a-ka-ra-zjeh)

Photo: Receiteria

One of the most calorie-laden street snacks I’ve ever had the good fortune to try, acarajé is a deep-fried patty of crushed black-eyed peas, palm oil and puréed onions, deep-fried in yet more palm oil before being sliced open and stuffed with dried shrimp and vatapá – a rich and spicy purée of prawns, bread, cashew nuts and other ingredients. The dish originated in Bahia, in Brazil’s north-east, where flavours have strong roots in African cooking. Acarajé is at its best when served piping hot, fresh from the vat of oil, with a liberal dash of chilli sauce.

10. Bolinho de Bacalhau

Photo: Jornal O Painel

Bolinho de Bacalhau literally means ‘little cod ball’. The delicious, fishy snacks are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The pieces of salted cod are firstly boiled before they are deep-fried. Salted cod is very popular in Portugal and the Brazilian’s love for it stems from the colonial era. Bolinho de bacalhau can be served as an appetizer or as a main course with rice and vegetables.

How to cook traditional Brazilian Pato No Tucupi – Duck in Tucupi Sauce

Ingredients

- 1 great duck - 3 small onions, peeled, finely chopped - 4 cloves of garlic - 100 grams of bacon in slices - 5 ripe tomatoes (optional) - 1/3 of cup (tea) of vinegar - 1 leaf of laurel tree - 1/2 spoon (coffee) of cumin powder and black pepper - 1 cup (tea) of oil - 1 bunch of jambu (or watercress) - 1 liter of Tucupi - 12 spoons (soup) of toasted cassava flour - Salt

Instructions

1. Clean the duck cleans very well.

2.Following, pierce it slightly with a fork and spice it with beaten garlic, salt, laurel tree, black pepper, cumin powder and vinegar. Leave it to take taste of one day for the other.

3. After this time, cover the duck with sliced of bacon, place it in a roasting pan, arrange for top the slices of onion and tomato.

4. It waters with oil and it has led to the moderate oven, leaving to bake until the duck is ruddy and soft.

5. Remove it, cut it in pieces and leave it in the proper gravy. Clean jambu, wash and it has pricked (it conserves the stems to give more taste), boil tucupi with 2 cloves of garlic previously beaten, per more or less 15 minutes.

6. When using watercress, do not boil it. Add pieces of the duck in the gravy and leaves to boil per 20 minutes.

. In the hour to serve, place in each plate 2 cassava flour soup spoons, arranges for top 1 or 2 pieces of duck and pours gravy sufficiently (well hot).

8. The gravy mixed the flour, will form a species of will pirão. - To make the gravy of the Tucupi: Grape the cassava, press the broth and place it to cook with sufficient garlic. After cold, bottle it.

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