RECIPE - Bean Soup Brazilian Beach Style (Caldinho de Feijão)

To wrap up Flavors of Brazil's series of posts on Brazilian beach-style soup recipes, we're posting one of the most traditional as well as most popular caldinhos (cups of soup in Portuguese) - bean soup with coconut milk. Along with the ever-popular fish and shrimp soups solds on the beaches of Brazil, bean soup is a favorite choice for Brazilian beach-goers on beaches all along the coastline of Brazil.

This soup can be made with any variety of dried beans. Even in Brazil, the choice of beans in this soup varies from region to region and from vendor to vendor. In Rio de Janeiro you're most likely to find black bean soup, and in the northeast of the country the most popular choice is carioca beans (similar to pinto beans).

This recipe starts with about three cups of basic Brazilian beans, already cooked. We published the recipe in back in 2010 and you can link to that recipe here), you can use those beans and some of their broth as the soup base. Either way you'll end up with a hearty and nourishing bean soup, enlivened and "Brazilianized" by the presence of coconut milk. The recipe makes a large quantity of soup, but it freezes marvelously, so you needn't worry about any going to waste.
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RECIPE - Bean Soup Brazilian Beach Style (Caldinho de Feijão)


3 cups approximately, cooked Brazilian-style beans, and their broth (recipe here)
3/4 cup (200 ml) coconut milk
1 small chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)
2 Tbsp chopped green onion, for garnish
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro, for garnish
2 Tbsp finely chopped red or green bell pepper, for garnish
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Combine the beans and their broth, the coconut milk and optional chili pepper in a large bowl, then blend them, in batches if necessary, until you have a homogenous mixture.

Pour the blended mixture into a large sauce pan and heat over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat, and cook for about 10 minutes at a simmer.

Pour the hot soup in cups or mugs, and sprinkle the surface with chopped green onions, bell peppers and/or cilantro.
Serve immediately.

RECIPE - Fish Soup, Brazilian Beach Style (Caldinho de Peixe)

Brazilian beach-style soups, whether eaten on a hot summer's day on the beach, or at home on a cold and damp winter's day, are marvelous pick-me-ups and satisfy without filling. In Brazil, these soups are served in small cups, often plastic ones when they are bought from vendors at the beach, but they are only improved when they're served in small proper soup cups or bowls.

These soups (called caldinhos in Portuguese) are fortunately also very simple to make and don't involve a lot of time or effort. Whether January brings you chilly winter weather or the dog days of summer, you'll find that Brazilian beach-style ish soup really hits the spot.
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RECIPE - Fish Soup, Brazilian Beach Style (Caldinho de Peixe)
Makes 4 small cups or 2 bowls

1 medium-size fish steak (any type of white fish)
1 medium fish head (non-oily fish only), thoroughly cleaned and rinsed
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 medium green pepper, seeded, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
handful fresh cilantro
1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
additional chopped cilantro (garnish, optional)
croutons (garnish, optional)
chopped green onions, green part only (garnish, optional)
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In a food processor or blender combine the tomatoes (put in first), onion, green pepper, garlic and cilantro. Pulse to begin, then blend until you have a homogenous mixture. Reserve.

Cut the fish steak into large pieces. Combine the fish steak and fish head (whole) in a large saucepan and add 1 liter (1 quart) cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Add the blender mixture and cook, at a slow boil, until the mixture has reduced by approximately half. Remove from heat.

Take the fish head plus any skin or bones out of the soup and discard. Pour the remainder in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a clean saucepan, then stir in the coconut milk and olive oil. Heat thoroughly, but do not boil.

Serve in bowls or cups, and pass additional cilantro, croutons and/or green onions in small cups as individual garnishes.

Recife's Surprising Favorite Beach Snack - Soup!

When you're at the beach on a hot and sunny day and you start to feel peckish, what perks your appetite? A cooling fruit salad? A bowl of gazpacho? A chilled, frosty drink? If you're from Recife, in Brazil's always-tropical northeast, it's not like to be any of those things. What makes your mouth water on a scorching afternoon at the beach is a cup of hot soup.

Hot soup?

That's right, in Recife, according to a survey by the city's municipal government and judging by the number of soup vendors that populate the city's most popular beaches, what beachgoers want is a cup of soup (called caldinho or "little soup" in Portuguese), steaming hot. Whether it's bean soup, shrimp soup or fish soup, soup is what hits the spot in Recife.

There is a scientific basis to this predilection for hot soup on a hot day. Ingesting hot food causes the body to sweat, and as the sweat evaporates, it cools the body. It's for the same reason that Thai food, Indian food and other cuisines from hot climes are often spicy - the chiles cause sweating, which cools the body. It's counter-intuitive, but it does work. And it seems that Recife's beach crowd has figured it out.

The garnishes that accompany caldinho are almost as important to customers as the soup itself, according to many of the ambulant vendors that walk the beach all day long, dishing out plastic cups of soup from a thermos jug and adding garnishes according to the customer's desires. Traditional accompaniments include quails' eggs, torresmo (pork rinds), corn kernels and olive slices.

In addition to ambulant vendors, there are beachside stands that sell soup to walk-up customers, and in the most popular of those, it's not uncommon to sell 80 liters (80 quarts) of soup on a weekend afternoon. Many of the stands are weekend-only propositions and are staffed by members of a single extended family.

Customers and vendors alike stress the importance of sanitation and hygiene, and regular beachgoers often have their own list of trusted vendors, from whom they buy caldinho exclusively. Vendor José Carlos da Silva, who has 20-years' experience selling soup on Recife's beaches, points out that the hot soup itself is normally safe to eat, but that one must take extra care when choosing the accompaniments which are normally at ambient temperature.

Coming up in our next posts are some typical caldinho recipes from northeastern Brazil. They're great whether served on a tropical beach, or in a snowbound cabin in the mountains.

RECIPE - Brazilian Mussel Chowder (Caldo de Sururu)

One of the pleasures of the northeastern Brazilian beach (and there are many) is the sight of a vendor making his or her way along the strand carrying one or two termos bottles, a supply of plastic cups, and perhaps some small containers with hot chili sauce, chopped green onions or chopped cilantro. When you spot one of these coming your way, you know that you're going to be offered a cup of hot soup (caldo in Portuguese). And you know you'll accept. The only question is what kind.

Soup doesn't seem like something you'd want to eat on a topical beach under the blazing sun, but take it on faith, it is. It nourishes without filling, satisfies like a meal does, yet leaves you with room to enjoy a cold beer, caipirinha or soft drink. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to make you feel any hotter either.

The standard offerings for on-the-beach soups are bean, fish and sururu. If you have read yesterday's post on this blog, you'll know that the sururu is a tiny mussel native to northeast Brazil. It's locally believed to be an aphrodisiac  as well. So if you aren't sure you want your sexual desire to be enhanced, which is after all what aphrodisiacs do, then choose bean or fish. But if the company and the mood are suitable, give sururu a try. At worst, you'll most likely have a delicious cup of soup, at best, one with a spectacular added bonus.

The sururu mussel in found only in tropical waters, primarily in Brazil, but if you want to make this soup at home, you can use any variety of mussel available. Be warned though - there may be no aphrodisiac effect! The recipe also calls for the tropical palm oil known as dendê. There is no acceptable substitute for dendê but you may leave it out entirely if you wish as it's more of a garnish than an ingredient. Outside Brazil dendê can often be found in Latin American or Brazilian grocery stores, or in African grocery stores, where it's called palm oil.
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RECIPE - Brazilian Mussel Chowder (Caldo de Sururu)
Serves 10

1 lb. thoroughly washed mussels, meat only, no shells
2 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
4 cups (1l) water
salt and black pepper to taste
3/4 cup cooked, mashed manioc or potatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
 dendê oil to drizzle
lime wedges
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Put the tomatoes, chopped onion and garlic in a blender and liquidize thoroughly. Pour into a large saucepan and cook for 3-4 minutes over medium-high heat.

When the liquid is just at the boiling point, add the mussels, the mashed potatoes or manioc and half the water. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes only, or until the mussels are just firm. Add additional water if needed to reach a rich but pourable soup consistency. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour into small bowls, cups or drinking glasses. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on top and drizzle a bit of dendê oil over, if desired. Serve immediately accompanied by wedges of fresh lime.

Rio's Cultural Heritage - Beach Vendors Join the List

There's nothing really new about placing buildings, natural settings or entire cities on a cultural heritage list. Most North American cities have a list of protected structures that have been enshrined as part of the city's architectural heritage and which cannot be demolished or modified without express approval of municipal authorities. The UNESCO World Heritage Site program has designated variously national parks, urban neighborhoods and entire cities are part of the world's cultural patrimony and as such worthy of legislative and regulatory protection.

Recently there has been a trend, particularly in Brazil, to denote certain cultural practices as well as part of society's heritage - a type of immaterial patrimony, since there is no structure or geographical feature to be protected. But in today's world of converging cultures, unique cultural practices are seen to be in danger, just as are monuments, palaces, historic villages and natural wonders.


Flavors of Brazil has previously posted articles about Brazil's recognition of the practice of selling acarajé on the streets of Salvador as an integral part of Bahian culture (click here to read more). This practice was recognized by Brazil's federal department of culture through the department's cultural patrimony agency, Iphan.

It's not only Brazil's federal government, however, that recognizes the importance of immaterial practices in defining a place's culture. The city of Rio de Janeiro also maintains a list of protected practices - things that play an important role in what makes Rio what it is. For the munical government, Rio de Janeiro is not just beaches and hills, the statue of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado mountain, and the graphic sidewalks of Copacabana and Ipanema. It's also the rhythm of the samba, the dance called funk, and the annual orgy of pleasure called Carnaval.

Mayor Paes (in white shirt) with mate vendors

This week, Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, proclaimed the latest addition to the city's heritage list - the ambulant vendors who sell icy cold yerba mate tea on the city's beaches. These vendors, invariably clad in bright orange, walk miles and miles barefoot along Rio's beaches with two large aluminum tanks, one under each arm, calling out their wares. One tank has iced yerba mate tea and the other has lemonade. It's up to each purchaser to decide what proportions of each they want in their cup - some want mostly mate, others like a lot of lemonade. Using the spigots on each tank, the vendor fills the customer's cup to order. There's absolutely nothing more refreshing on a scorchingly hot day at the beach, and there's nothing more iconically "Rio" than these vendors noisily walking up and down the sand shouting "Mate! Mate gelado!". (Incidentally, in Brazilian Portuguese, mate is pronounced something like MA-chee).

In his proclamation this week, Mayor Paes summed up the cultural importance of these vendors: "Rio is made up of its beautiful landscapes and of its people. The people of this city are the best thing about it. The mate vendor on the beach is the face of Rio, one of the most recognizable of the city's personages. These vendors are in Rio's memory. Of our city, we all have wonderful memories:an image, an aroma, a sound. And on our beaches, one of the most important sense memories is the cry of the mate vendor selling his wares."

Jericoacoara - A Step Back in Time

The small beachfront town of Jericoacoara (or Jeri as it's most commonly known) is located on the north coast of Ceará, about 200 miles (290 km) from Fortaleza. It's not that far as the crow flies, but even by car or express-bus the trip from the capital to Jeri takes a good part of the day. Why? The reason is that the road to Jeri ends about 12 miles (20 km) from Jeri itself in a place called Jijoca. From there to Jeri you can only  travel by dune buggy or by specially modified open-air minibus - from Jijoca to Jeri the road is nothing more than a path in the sand, first on the dunes, then along the beach. Jeri is not accessible by paved road, nor even gravel road. To travel the 12 miles across the sand to Jeri takes well over an hour.

And when you arrive there, the streets of Jeri are not paved, nor even gravelled either. They're sand as well  - the entire village of Jeri perches on the beach. High heels will do you no good here - to walk on the sand streets of Jeri you need tennis shoes, flipflops, or nothing (barefoot works very well). Jeri is casual and laid-back, at times seeming to be in a time-warp. In Jeri it can still seem like the 60s - the hippies that founded the village are still there in force, it's just that they're now third-generation hippies.

Jericoacoara is in an area of environmental protection, and a road to it will hopefully never be built. It's the village's isolation and beauty that draw the tourists that drive the local economy. Jeri is so isolated that it didn't have electricity until 1989, and even today there are no streetlights at night - just the lanterns and lamps of small shops, bars, restaurants and inns to brighten the darkness a bit.

Today Jeri has sophisticated boutique hotels and gourmet restaurants, but it hasn't lost its hippie past - most of the accommodation in the village is in small inns and pousadas, and most of the restaurants serve basic local fare, with emphasis on seafood. At night, many of the bars have live music and all serve cheap and potent cocktails, most of them based on cachaça and local fruit juices. Local "herbal" intoxicants remain popular too - another vestige of Jeri's hippie era.

Because of its location on the northernmost stretches of Ceará coastline, Jeri is one of the very few places in Brazil where it's possible to see the sun set into the sea. A popular ritual, for locals and visitors alike is to climb the 200 foot high sand dune that dominates the village at about 5 pm and watch the sun set in the sea from the dune's windy heights.

Jericoacoara is a popular weekend get-away for residents of Fortaleza, but because of the travel time involved isn't really worth visiting unless you can afford to spend at least two nights there - any shorter amount of time and you'll spend more time traveling to and from Jeri than you will relaxing and enjoying it.

Our next few posts on Flavors of Brazil will feature a couple of local signature dishes from Jericoacoara. A taste of Jeri, as it were.

FISH OF BRAZIL - Manjuba (Broadband Anchovy)

Lagoinha Beach, Ceará

One of the best things about spending a day at on a quiet beach in Brazil is that the menu at the beach bar is very likely to include some sort of small fish served whole. breaded and fried, accompanied by wedges of juicy fresh limes, plenty of salt, and a bottle of hot sauce, preferably homemade. With a glass of icy-cold beer to wash the little critters down there's really no meal more delicious or more suited to the beach.

Sometimes the fish are slightly larger, cleaned and headless, and sometimes they are so small they are served absolutely whole. However, they are always eaten bones, tail and all - those crunchy bits add flavors and textures which are lost in larger fish which are served filleted.

Manjuba

The most common fish served in this manner is a species (or a number of related species, to be specific) called manjuba in Portuguese, or often manjubinha, which is the diminutive form. According to the website fishbase.org the fish bears the name broadband anchovy in English - presumably the word broadband in this case having absolutely nothing to do with internet access. The scientific name is Anchoviella lepidentostole. It's natural range is along the western coast of the South Atlantic in South America from Venezuela to the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.

The manjuba lives in shallow waters near the shore, is very numerous within its range, and is each to catch. The price for a plate of fried manjuba at the beach is therefore likely to be quite low - I've had delicious manjuba for as little as R$3 (about USD$1.80) a plate.

Current thinking about the overfishing of the world's oceans tells us that in the future the world is going to have to look at eating more smaller fish and fewer larger ones - tuna, swordfish, halibut, all the world's large species are highly stressed, yet supplies of smaller fish like anchovies, sardines, or herrings can sustainably be fished. That may be the silver lining in the overfishing cloud - maybe more people will learn to appreciate small fish the way Brazilian appreciate fried manjuba. It's the taste of the Brazilian beach.

Hot Soup on a Hot Beach

If there ever was an example of unfettered capitalism in operation, a typical beach in Brazil might be it. On any beach along the 4654 miles (7491 kms.) of Brazil's coastline those enjoying the sun and surf will be offered the opportunity to purchase an extraordinary variety of goods - foods, drinks (alcoholic and non-), sunglasses, swimsuits, beach towels, folk art, tattoos, kites and balloons, lottery tickets, and jewellry, among others. Fortunately, Brazilian beach vendors are seldom agressive in their sales pitches, and a simple "no, thanks" (não, obrigado in Portuguese) is enough to convince a vendor to move on. However, sometimes they do offer tremendous bargains in clothes and art, and often the food and drink is excellent. When purchasing food at the beach, a bit of common sense in necessary when considering hygiene and food safety - for example, I don't recommend purchasing cooked shrimp or crab which might have been in the hot sun, unrefrigerated, for a long time. However, other foods are perfectly safe to order and eat.

One of the most typical offerings of beach vendors in Brazil is something that would seem not to be appropriate for a hot day in the sun on the beach - soup (caldo or caldinho in Portuguese). Surprisingly though, it is often exactly what is needed. It's not heavy, not too much, yet it sustains and reduces those stomach growls which indicate hunger. Vendors usually bring the soup in the thermos jar, so it's very hot. They serve it in a plastic cup, and garnish each serving individually. It's satisfying, and very cheap - prices range from one to three reais, which is approximately $0.50 to $1.50 per serving.

The most commonly sold soups at the beach are fish, seafood or bean. The seafood is a natural companion to beach life, and bean soup is Brazilian comfort food at its most basic. The vast majority of Brazilians of all economic levels eat some form of dried beans every day (as they do rice). So a nice cup of bean soup at the beach makes gastronomic sense to Brazilians, and should you try it, will do the same for you.

Recipes for some of the typical caldos will follow in future posts.