RECIPE - Dark Cocada (Cocada Preta)

This Brazilian sweet is worthy of a king - or at the very least worthy of a king of dark cocada (see previous post O rei da cocada preta). Whether blue blood flows in your veins or not, you will have to agree, once you taste it, that it's worth a king's ransom (OK, we promise there'll be no more playing with the words kind, royel, regal etc. in this post. Enough is enough.)

A variation on the snow-white theme of cocada, this Brazilian sweet or candy made from grated or flaked dried coconut with some sort of sweetening ingredient and something to bind it all together comes from the north-eastern state of Bahia. Our version employs a raw, unrefined, unbleached sugar called rapadura to provide the dark color and flavor note, and a simple syrup of sugar and water to hold it all together. Outside of Brazil, rapadura is hard to find, but you can substitute Demerara brown sugar in equal quantity for a similar result. This treat is sinfully good, but be aware that it's also sinfully sweet as it's made by Brazilians. That's the way they love it, but if you or those you're serving cocada preta to lack a sweet tooth, you might find it too sweet entirely. Just a friendly warning.
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RECIPE - Dark Cocada (Cocada Preta)
Makes 30

1 lb (500 gr) rapadura (or dark Demerara sugar)
2 lbs (900 gr) white granulated sugar
4 cups (1 liter) water
3 lbs (1.5 kg) flaked unsweetened coconut

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If using rapadura, melt it in a heavy pan over low heat. Remove from heat as soon as it melts. Pass through a metal sieve to remove impurities, then reserve.

In a large heavy pan, hea the white granulated sugar over low heat until it melts, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook and stir constantly until it begins to take on a golden color, then add the reserved rapadura or Demerara sugar. If using the sugar, continue to cook and stir until it is dissolved. Now add the water, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring all the time. When all the water is added, cook until the liquid has reached the thick syrup stage, continuing to stir. Remove from heat, fold in the coconut flakes and let cool for about 15 minutes.

Spread out enough wax paper on a large work surface or tabletop and drop 30 or so equal-sized rounds of the cocada. Spread them out slightly with the back of the wooden spoon, and let stand until completely cool and slightly hardened. Store in an air-tight container in layers, with wax paper between each layer.


Recipe translated and adapted from Cozinha Regional Brasileira by Abril Editora.

RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 3

Sofia Mota

Unlike the previous two recipes posted here on Flavors of Brazil, this version of Brazil's pé-de-moleque has nothing to do with traditional cooking, other than in inspiration. Created by chef Sofia Mota of Recife's Jalan Jalan restaurant, and featured at the Prazeres da Mesa Ao Vivo trade show and exhibition, this is a very up-to-date, deconstructed pé-de-moleque. Although the list of ingredients resembles the northestern version of traditional pé-de-moleque, the cooking techniques and the presentation make it very 21st Century.

(As in the northeastern version of pé-de-moleque, this recipe requires manioc-flour dough, unobtainable outside Brazil. For most readers of this blog, therefore, this is a recipe to fantasize about, not to make at home.)

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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque Graças ao Açúcar
15 portions

500 gr manioc dough
400 gr roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, broken into chunky pieces
200 gr salted butter, at room temperature
200 gr mascavo sugar
150 gr grated, unsweetened coconut
100 gr good-quality instant coffee
100 gr roasted, unsalted cashew nuts, whole
2 gr baking powder
5 gr ground fennel
5 gr ground cloves
250 ml honey
200 ml coconut milk
150 ml water
50 ml molasses
4 small cinnamon sticks
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
butter and all-purpose flour
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Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the mascavo sugar and butter until homogenous. Add the manioc dough, the salt and baking powder and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the whole eggs and the yolks, blending them into the batter until completely incorporated. Add the coconut milk and the ground fennel and cloves, stirring and mixing constantly and completely. Reserve.

Make a strong cup of coffee with the instant coffee and the water. Add to the reserved batter, along with the honey and the broken cashew nuts. Blend in completely.

Grease a tube cake pan, or muffin tin, with butter then dust with flour. Decorate the bottom with whole cashews, then sprinkle on the grated coconut and pour over ribbons of molasses. Carefully pour in the batter. Place in the oven and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (Individual cupcakes will take less time than a large single cake.)

Remove from oven, let partially cool in pan, then turn out onto cake rack and let cool completely.

Serve with cachaça ice cream decorated with spun sugar and mel-de-engenho (concentrated sugar cane juice).

Recipe translated and adapted from Prazeres da Mesa, September 2010.

RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 2

Yesterday Flavors of Brazil published a recipe for a peanut brittle-type candy from Brazil called pé-de-moleque. In that post, and in this post all about pé-de-moleque, it was specified that the recipe was for the "southern version" of pé-de-moleque, and that in the north and northeast of Brazil, the name pé-de-moleque was applied to something quite different.

In the more northerly regions of Brazil, locals apply the name pé-de-moleque to a rich and dense spice and nut cake. It's served with afternoon tea throughout the year, and is particularly associated with the Festas Juninas, the season of June festivals. During those festivals, homemade-style pé-de-moleque cake is served at fairs and dances throughout the region.

This cake is made not with wheat flour, as North American and European cooks are used to using, but with manioc flour - available for purchase ready-to-go as a dough in northern Brazil, similar to the ready-to-go pizza dough often available at Italian bakeries. As this dough is an essential ingredient, and it's unlikely that it can be found in North America, Europe or elsewhere, I'm including this recipe only for pure interest - don't try to make this substituting any other type of dough or flour as Flavors of Brazil won't be responsible for the results!
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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Northeastern Version

3 cups ground, roasted cashew nuts
2 1/2 cups boiling water
2 cups canned coconut milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 Tbsp. good-quality instant coffee
1/2 Tbsp. powdered cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. salt
2.2 lbs (1 kg) premixed manioc (macaxeira) dough
1 lb (500 gr)  rapadura, cut into small pieces
4 eggs
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Put the pieces of rapadura into a blender, pour the boiling water over, then blend at low speed until the sugar is completely dissolved. Be careful when blending hot liquids. Pour the mixture into a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the butter, the coffee, cinnamon, cloves and fennel. Stir to dissolve the butter, then reserve, letting cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).

With a cake mixer, whip the eggs and salt together in a large mixing bowl until light and frothy. Add the manioc flour and blend with the beaten eggs using a wooden spoon. Using the cake mixer, on low speed, add the coconut milk gradually. Continue to mix until you have a homogenous batter. Turn off the cake mixer, add the dissolved rapadura, and stir in with the wooden spoon. Again using the mixer on low speed, beat the batter, gradually adding the ground cashew nuts.

Generously grease a tube-style cake pan with unsalted butter. Pour in the batter, then cook on a center rack for approximately 1 hour, 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Remove from heat, let cool partially in pan, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely. If desired, decorate with whole roasted cashew nuts.


Recipe translated and adapted from NordesteWeb.

RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque (Ragamuffin's Foot), Version 1

Although it's not known as such in Brazil, let's call this version of the traditional sweet pé-de-moleque the "southern version". In this post on Flavors of Brazil, I mentioned that the name pé-de-moleque was applied to different things in different regions in Brazil. What the word means in Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte is not the same thing as what it means in Recife or Fortaleza. What it means in all southern and central regions of Brazil is a sticky, chewy candy that is very similar to North American peanut brittle - intensely sweet and full of caramel flavors and packed full of roasted, unsalted peanuts.

Whether to use peanuts with or without skins is entirely up to the cook - I've seen it offered both ways, and a quick search of online recipe shows just about equal numbers called for peanuts with skins and for those without. I think that the version with skins is more visually in the end, but it's really a minor detail. Have it your way.
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RECIPE - Pé-de-moleque, Southern Version

2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts (with or without skins)
1 cup water
600 gr rapadura (3 cups dark brown sugar may be substituted)
unsalted butter to grease cookie sheet

Generously grease a cookie sheet with softened butter. Reserve.

If using rapadura, cut it into small cubes. Place the rapadura or sugar in a deep, heavy saucepan, and add the water. Stir to mix, and heat over high heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid begins to boil. Stop stirring at that point and continue cooking until the syrup reaches the hard ball stage - 250-265F or 120-130C (click here for an explanation of cold water test for sugar syrups).  Add the peanuts, remove the syrup from heat, and stir briefly with a wooden spoon to coat the peanuts with syrup. Continue stirring the mixture slowly until the syrup begins to thicken and become opaque.

Pour the thickening mixture onto the cookie sheet, and spread it with a rubber spatula. Let it continue to cool, and when it is beginning to harden, cut it into pieces of whatever size you desire with a sharp knife dipped in boiling water. Let it harden completely, then break it into the pieces you have cut. Let them cool completely, then put them in a wax-paper lined cookie tin or plastic container.

Keeps for up to one week.

Recipe translated and adapted from Mdemulher Culinaria.

Ragamuffin's Foot - Pé-de-moleque

One of the most interesting words in common usage in Brazilian Portuguese, to my mind, is moleque. It's pronounced mo-LEH-key, and the word originally came from the African language Kimbundu where it meant simply "boy." In colonial Brazil it took on the meaning of "black boy" or "slave boy", and was used to designate child-slaves who worked in the kitchens and laundries of the owner's mansions on sugar cane plantations. In time, it lost its connotations of race and slave status, and today it generally means a young boy, often a street kid, who is playful, impish, knavish and often dirty - a ragamuffin.

Interesting etymological discussion, you might say, but what does it have to do with Brazilian food culture? Well, one of the most traditional and common sweets in Brazil is called "pé-de-moleque" which when translated into English becomes Ragamuffin's Foot, or Street-urchin's Foot. Legend has it that the name was first applied to the treat in the northeastern State of Pernambuco in the 18th Century. As the story goes, a woman who often made a treat out of rapadura (raw brown sugar) and peanuts was in the habit of leaving it on her kitchen windowsill to harden and cool. There was a street kid who lived in her neighborhood who loved sweets, and who sometimes would run up to the windowsill, grab a piece, and run away. One fine day, the woman happened to see the thief in action, and as he ran barefoot down the street, she leaned out the window and shouted: "Pede, moleque!", which means "Ask for it, kid!". The name stuck, and over time "pede" (ask for) become corrupted and confused with "Pé de" which means "foot of." Thus, "Ask for it, kid!" became "Ragamuffin's foot." Or so the story goes. True or not, it's a charming story and has given a memorable name to this delectable treat.

pé-de-moleque southern-stye

Actually, I should say that it has given it's name to these delectable treats, because today the name pé-de-moleque refers to one of two entirely different sweets, depending on in which region of Brazil one is speaking. In most of Brazil, the south, southeast and center, pé-de-moleque is a mixture of melted rapadura or brown sugar with peanuts - kind of like peanut brittle. Hard, chewy, sticky and very sweet. In the northeastern region of Brazil, however, pé-de-moleque is a dense cake made with rapadura, manioc flour and nuts, similar to a molasses cake. What both versions have in common is the dark, rich raw sugar and the presence of nuts. They differ in whether flour is added to make a cake or not.

pé-de-moleque northeastern-stye

Shortly, I'll post recipes for both styles of pé-de-moleque, as well as a chef's contemporary take on a deconstructed one. Get out your sweet-tooth, as pé-de-moleque is always achingly sweet - just as sweet as that 18th Century street kid who gained immortality by stealing candy from the old lady up the road.

RECIPE - Chicken with cachaça and rapadura ( Frango na cachaça e rapadura)

This recipe for boneless chicken breasts in a cream sauce enhanced with cachaça and rapadura is a modern adaptation of a traditional recipe from the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará. It can be made with any brand or type of cachaça, depending on availability, although I like this recipe best with an aged and malted cachaça from Ypioca, one of Brazil's best producers of cachaça, called 160. If you can find Ypioca 160 it is worth the price - it is aged 6 years in oak barrels, and was named the best premium cachaça in the world by the International Cane Spirits society.

This recipe has been adapted and translated from a recipe published by Jocélio Pereira Azevedo. I was served it at the home of a talented amateur cook here in Fortaleza, Eduardo Mendes de Oliveira.
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Chicken with cachaça and rapadura
Serves 6

6 half chicken breasts, skinless (boneless optional)
salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste
2 cups cachaça
2 Tbsp. grated rapadura
flour to coat chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cups finely chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup light cream (Half and Half)
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In a shallow bowl or baking dish large enough to hold the chicken and cachaça, place the chicken breasts, generously seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with aluminum foil. Marinate for at least one hour, refrigerated.
Remove from refrigerator, pour the cachaça over, then sprinkle the rapadura on top. Re-cover with aluminum foil, and marinate overnight, or for at least 8 hours, turning the pieces in the cachaça from time to time.
Remove chicken from bowl or baking dish, reserving marinade.
Put a small amount of flour in a plastic or paper bag, and individually toss chicken pieces in flour, to coat lightly. Shake chicken pieces to remove excess flour.
Heat butter and oil in large, non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces, a few at a time, and cook until nicely browned on all sides. Remove chicken from frying pan and reserve.
Pour out excess fat from frying pan, add onion and garlic, and cook over medium heat until softened and transparent. Do not let onion and garlic brown.
Return chicken to the pan, then pour over the cachaçamarinade. Flame the marinade*, and then cook the mixture over medium heat until liquid is reduced by 3/4 and the chicken is done.
Add the cream slowly, and let cook for approximately 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Check for seasoning, and add salt if required.
Serve immediately.

*To do this, light a match and lower the flame onto the mixtures until it lights then let the flame extinguish itself.

Rapadura - Sugar At Its Most Basic

At one end of the spectrum is white table sugar, which has been cleaned, refined and standardized as far as possible. At the other end of that same spectrum is rapadura, a traditional ingredient in Brazil's northeast, which is as close to sugar cane, the origin of Brazilian sugar, as possible. It's everything white table sugar is not - dark colored, dense, sticky and strongly flavored. It's nibbled whole as a simple pick-me-up or dessert, it's grated to sprinkle on fancy puddings and tortes, and it's melted to add sweetness and complexity to sauces sweet and savory. (For a delicious chicken recipe with a sauce containing rapadura and cachaça, click here)

Rapadura is basically nothing more than unrefined sugar cane juice which has been boiled and evaporated into a solid state. It is almost pure sucrose or fructose. It is an ancient product, and is usually artesanally made, even today. Similar primitive solid sugar products are well-loved in many parts of the world - panela in Colombia, piloncillo in Mexico and jaggery in India. Because these sugars are important in a number of national and regional cuisines, they are not difficult to obtain in ethnic food markets in North America - ask for them by regional name. I have found piloncillo in Latin American markets in a number of North American cities, and jaggery in Indian markets.