RECIPE - Rice with Cuxá (Arroz de Cuxá)

Here is another recipe from the Brazilian state of Maranhão. It features the characteristic flavor of the acidic green vinagreira, in rice dish that approaches the complexity of a risotto.

Rice is one of the most important components of the cuisine of Maranhão and was brought there by Portuguese colonists who had first learned of the grain in Asia. Rice was cultivated in Maranhão as far back as 1745 and it was primarily rice from Maranhão that fed those colonies that became Brazil. In colonial times Maranhão rice was also exported to Europe. The predominance of rice cultivation in Maranhão led to the creation there of a number of dishes based on rice, combining the grain with bacon, carne de sol, crab, shrimp or vinagreira. Rice combined with vinagreira eventually came to be called rice with cuxá (arroz de cuxá in Portuguese.)

Rice with cuxá is typically served as a side dish to accompany seafood main courses such as crab or shrimp pie, or fried fish or shrimp. Local cooks say that it takes a long time to learn how to properly prepare rice with cuxá because when the proportion of rice to vinagreira is correct, the dish becomes inedible. If too much vinagreira is added the dish becomes bitter and overly acidic. If not enough, the dish remains bland and flavorless. Only someone who has been making rice with cuxá all their life knows exactly how much to throw in the pot.
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RECIPE - Rice with Cuxá (Arroz de Cuxá)
Serves 4

1 lb (500 gr) dried shrimp (available in Asian markets)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup toasted white sesame seeds
1 1/2 cup cooked vinagreira leaves, chopped
4 cups water
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup manioc flour
3 cups cooked long-grain white rice
salt to taste
Chopped green onion to garnish
1 red chile pepper to garnish
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Wash the shrimp in a sieve under cold running water. Reserve. Combine the onion and sesame seeds in a food processor and process until a homogenous paste is formed. Reserve. Bring the 4 cups water to a boil and add several handfuls of vinagreira leaves. Boil only until the leaves become limp and lose their bright color. Drain and immediately refresh the leaves in cold water. Drain again. Coarsely chop the leaves, and measure 1 1/2 cups.

Heat the oil in a large heavy frying pan and add the garlic and the onion/sesame paste. Cook until the mixture is lightly browned, then add the 1 1/2 cup water and the manioc flour. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes. Add the shrimp and the chopped vinagreira and stir to combine. Finally add in the cooked rice, season to taste with salt, and continue to stir and cook until the rice is heated through.

Remove from heat, put onto a serving platter or in a bowl, garnish with the green onion and chile pepper then serve immediately.

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

INGREDIENTS - Vinagreira, a versatile Hibiscus

Hibiscus Sabdariffa, one of the many members of the Hibiscus family, is an important medicinal and culinary ingredient in many corners of the world. In English, the common name for this plant is the Roselle or Rosella, though in the Caribbean it's known as Sorrel. In Spanish-speaking Latin America the name is Flor de Jamaica and in Brazil it's called Vinagreira.

The plant is cultivated commercially in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Various parts of the plant have commercial value - the woody stems yield bast fiber, which is used to produce burlap. The calyx of the flower is exported to Europe and North America where it produces a natural food coloring, and the dried calyces are used to make infused teas called "Hibiscus Tea" or in Spanish "agua de Jamaica".  Anyone who has drunk Red Zinger tea has already sampled Hibiscus Sabdariffa, and it's this plant which gives the tea its brilliant red color. In many countries where this plant is cultivated, its leaves provide the most common culinary use, and among these countries is Brazil.

In Brazil, cultivation of vinagreira as a cooking ingredient is strongly associated with the remote Northeastern state of Maranhão. Maranhão differs from the other states of Brazil's Northeast in culture, racial mixture, dialect, art and history, as well as cuisine. Having been at various times a colony of France and the Netherlands, as well as of Portugal, and being largely inaccessible from other parts of Brazil during colonial times, Maranhão has a unique flavor all its own. For example, it is only in the traditional cooking of Maranhão that you find use of vinagreira , but there it is a keystone ingredient and is essential in the preparation of the most famous dish from Maranhão, cuxá.

Once you have tasted vinagreira leaves, you'll understand where the Portuguese name comes from, as the high Vitamin C content of the leaves gives them a very acidic taste. Other regional names for the plant in Maranhão include caruru azedo, which means "acidic caruru."

Future posts on Flavors of Brazil will be featuring the foods of Maranhão, and will include a number of recipes which include vinagreira. 

If you wish to grow  Hibiscus Sabdariffa in your own garden, whether for making hibiscus tea, using the leaves in a recipe from Flavors of Brazil, or just for the beauty of its flowers, seeds can be purchased online from Onaleeseeds.com. Click here for a link to the ordering page for this plant.According to the site, it can be grown successfully in USDA zones 6-11.