RECIPE - Bread Farofa (Farofa de Pão)

Over the past few days, Flavors of Brazil has been featuring a small sampling of the many thousands of recipes for a dish called farofa - a flavored and seasoned mixture of dry manioc flour (farinha) and some form of fat or oil. It's one of the most basic cornerstones of Brazilian cuisine and dates back to the time before the arrival of Europeans on these shores.

One difficulty for cooks outside Brazil who want to discover this versatile and unusual side-dish is sourcing the main ingredient - dry manioc flour. Those who are lucky enough to have a Brazilian food market in their community won't have problems, as every Brazilian market, large and small, in Brazil or outside, sells farinha. Those emigrant Brazilians who live in areas where there isn't a Brazilian community often carry farinha with them - hoping to avoid culinary homesickness.

Fortunately, there are a very few recipes for farofa that don't call for manioc flour, and those can be made easily almost everywhere. What these recipes don't have is the characteristic gritty feel of manioc flour, which Brazilians adore and some non-Brazilians find, to put it politely, less than wonderful. These recipes substitute dried bread crumbs for the manioc, but use the same basic cooking technique as the classic recipe. The flavor profile of the finished dish is very similar to classic farofa, and the dish can serve the same purpose as manioc-based farofa as a side dish. If farinha is completely unavailable to you, give this a try. It's next to "as good as the real stuff" good.
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RECIPE - Bread Farofa (Farofa de Pão)
Serves 6

6 day-old French rolls
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup butter
salt to taste
1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped
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Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

Cut the rolls into thick slices and lay out the slices on a baking sheet or cookie sheet. Place in the preheated oven and toast until the slices are completely dry and nicely browned.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Grate the bread slices on a box-grater, using the largest holes. Reserve,

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and butter together until the butter is melted and the fat is hot but not smoking. Add the chopped garlic and cook just until it begins to brown. Do not overcook. Add the grated bread crumbs in a steady stream, stirring constantly, until all the crumbs are moistened by the oil and heated through. Season with salt to taste and remove from the heat.

Stir in the chopped parsley and serve immediately, or let cool completely and serve at room temperature.

RECIPE - Water Farofa (Farofa d' Água)

Most recipes for farofa, the Brazilian side-dish made from dry manioc flour toasted with some form of oil or far, aim for a finished dish in which the grains of manioc flour remain separate and retain the particular gritty, sandy crunch of the flour itself. The grain is heated with enough flavored oil and seasonings to give the dish some character, but not enough to cause the grains to clump together.

There is one very old and very traditional recipe for farofa that doesn't abide by the "keep it dry and keep the grains separate" rule of thumb. It's called Farofa d' Água and it adds one step to the traditional recipe. After toasting the manioc flour with oil or far, a relatively small amount of water is added to the pan and the dish is cooked until the water is absorbed. The additional of water causes the grains of manioc to plump up, soften and begin to stick together. The result is a texture something like a poultry stuffing, very different from garden variety farofa.

Farofa d' Água is eaten everywhere in Brazil, but it's particularly popular in the Northeast. Just as with the other recipes for farofa that Flavors of Brazil has been presenting the last few days, it's most commonly served with grilled or roasted fish or meat. It also makes an excellent side dish for meats or fishes cooked in a sauce.
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RECIPE - Water Farofa (Farofa d' Água)
Serves 4

2 cups farinha (dry manioc flour)
2 Tbsp butter
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup green onion, green parts only, chopped
salt to taste
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 Melt the butter in a large, preferably cast-iron frying pan. When the butter is hot and begins to bubble, add the chopped red onion and cook just until the onion is softened. Add the manioc in a steady stream, stirring constantly with a wooden or silicon spoon, making sure that all the grains are covered with butter. Toast for a minute or so, then reduce the heat and slowly pour in the water, stirring constantly to moisten all the grains. Cook for just a minute more, or until the grains are softened and begin to clump together.

Remove from heat, season with salt as desired, and stir in the chopped cilantro and green onions. Serve in a decorative bowl as accompaniment to a main dish of meat or fish.

Recipe translated and adapted from Nordestinos na Cozinha.

RECIPE - Bahian Farofa with Dendê (Farofa de Dendê)

All Brazilian farofas combine manioc flour (farinha) with some sort of fat or oil to moisten and flavor the dry, lightly-flavored flour. The fat can be melted butter or lard, it can be rendered bacon fat, or it can be a liquid oil like olive oil or neutral vegetable oil.

In the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, where the local style of cooking evidences a strong African influence - a heritage of the history of slavery in Brazil - the oil typically used in making farofa is the shockingly-orange, highly-flavored palm oil called dendê, which came from West Africa with the very first slaves bound for Brazil's gold mines and sugar plantations.

This recipe from Bahia also adds another typically West African flavor to the manioc and dendê mixture - dried shrimps. With a strong flavor of the sea, the small, dried crustaceans are finely chopped or ground into a flour to add one more of Bahia's essential flavors to this dish.

Bahian dendê farofa, along with white rice, is the perfect accompaniment for any of Bahia's marvelous moquecas - fish or seafood stews, redolent of coconut milk, cilantro and dendê.

There is no adequate substitute for any of the main ingredients in this dish, though manioc flour (farinha), dendê and dried shrimps can often be found in Latin American and African markets in cities which have immigrant communities, and dried shrimps can also be found in most Asian markets.
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RECIPE - Bahian Farofa with Dendê (Farofa de Dendê)
Serves 6

1/2 cup (125 ml) dendê oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 oz. (100 gr) dried shrimp
2 1/2 cups dried manioc flour (farinha)
salt to taste
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Finely mince the dried shrimp with a large knife or cleaver, or, alternatively, grind them in a spice grinder.

Heat the dendê in a large frying pan, the add the chopped onion and cook until the onions are soft and golden. Add the minced or ground shrimp and stir well to combine. Add the manioc flour in a steady stream, stirring all the while to moisten all the flour. When the farofa is dry and the grains are separated, season with salt, then continue to toast the farofa for a minute or two, stirring constantly.

Serve immediately as part of a Bahian-style meal.

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

RECIPE - Basic Farofa (Farofa Básica)

In yesterday's post about farofa, the Brazilian side dish made from dry manioc flour toasted with the addition of some form of fat, Flavors of Brazil mentioned that the bread-and-butter, everyday recipe for farofa calls for nothing more than dry manioc flour, butter and salt.

When a Brazilian cook is preparing a for-the-family-only weekday mid-day meal, she will almost always include white rice, some form of cooked dried beans, and the following recipe for farofa. If the meal is a weekend or holiday feast, or if there are guests, the farofa will probably be more elaborate with additional flavors added. But to begin at the beginning, here's how to make basic Brazilian farofa.
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RECIPE - Basic Farofa (Farofa Básica)
Serves 4

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp salt
farinha (dry manioc flour)
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Melt the butter in a heavy, preferably cast-iron, frying pan. When it's bubbling hot, add the salt and mix with a wooden or silicon spoon. Continuing to stir, slowly add the manioc flour in a steady stream, stirring all the while to moisten the grains equally. Continue to add flour until you reach the point where the mixture is dry and the grains are separated (see photo above for how the mixture should look). Continue to cook for a minute or two more to heat and toast the mixture, then serve immediately as part of a meal of grilled or roasted meat or fish, along with white rice and beans.

Farofa - The Universal Accompaniment

Photo courtesy Come-Se

When Brazilians eat grilled or roasted meat or fish, the side dishes are plain white rice, beans and a golden-colored mixture with a sandy texture called farofa. Eating churrasco, the Brazilian-style mixed grill cooked over charcoal without a dish of farofa to accompany it is considered culinary heresy.

There are infinite variations and thousands of recipes for farofa, but at its most basic farofa is a mixture of dry manioc flour toasted in some sort of fat to flavor and moisten it. The fat can be butter, it can be bacon fat and in Bahia, where African culinary traditions rule, it's like to be be dendê, the brilliant orange palm oil that is the herald of Bahian cooking.

Farinha - dry manioc flour

Manioc itself, of course, is a heritage of Amerindian cooking traditions in Brazil and the only truly native staple food in this country. This protean tuber appears at the Brazilian table in a startlingly large number of forms - so many and so different that it's hard to imagine they all come from the same plant. Manioc can be mashed or french-fried like potatoes, it can be made into breads and pastries, or it can show up as tapioca, which in Brazil means a crepe, not a dessert pudding. But it is as farofa that it's most commonly found on the dinner table.

Besides the use of different forms of fat to vary the basic recipe, Brazilian chefs also occasionally add other flavoring ingredients such as onion, crispy bacon bits or shredded carne de sol (dried jerky). Sometimes fresh herbs, particularly cilantro and chopped green onion, are added to give the farofa a fresh touch. Day-to-day farofa is likely to be more basic, however.

In Brazilian supermarkets it's possible to buy packages of farofa, pre-made. Most Brazilian cooks, though, still make it at home, preferring freshly cooked farofa to the industrially prepared variety.

Just as there are many different ways to cook farofa, there are many different ways to eat it. Some people like to sprinkle farofa directly on the grilled meat or fish. This is particularly popular when eating churrasquinho, Brazil's meat-on-a-stick take on kebabs. Some prefer to mix all the side dishes on their plate, the rice, the beans and the farofa, to make one all-purpose accompaniment to the meal's centerpiece. Others like to dip each forkful of meat into a pile of farofa before popping it into their mouth. And some, farofa's most ardent fans, will eat theirs straight up, not mixing it with anything else.

Because of the characteristically sandy, gritty texture of manioc flour and it's relative lack of flavor, visitors to Brazil are often puzzled by farofa. They don't appreciate the texture, likening it to beach sand, and they don't see what it adds to the dining experience. But non-Brazilians who spend some time in this country often find that the habit of eating farofa eventually sneaks up on them. At at some point in the Brazilianization process, they are likely to discover that a plate of grilled meats without farofa looks bare and incomplete. They've become farofasized.

The manioc flour used to make farofa, called farinha in Portuguese, can be difficult to source outside Brazil, unless you live in an area with a Brazilian immigrant community. In those areas, farinha can be bought in Latin American ethnic markets. Manioc flour is also a common ingredient in many African culinary cultures and African markets are likely to stock it as well.