RECIPE - "Rotten" Cake (Bolo Podre)

Some names for recipes just plain have it wrong. Welsh rabbit, for example - there's not a long-eared, floppy-tailed little bunny within miles. Canadian beaver tails? They're nothing but a flattened wad of dough, fried, then dusted with sugar. And Buffalo wings? Next time you see a bison flying overhead, let me know (We know this dish is named after the city, not the animal, but you get the idea). As for spotted dick, we're not even going to go there.

We'd like to add this recipe to the list of misnamed dishes, as there's absolutely nothing rotten about it - neither its state of preservation nor its flavor. Plus, it's not really a cake either. It's cool, creamy, and absolutely delicious. That's all you need to know. (You can read more about bolo podre here).

This recipe is for bolo podre as it's served in the city of Belém, in Brazil's Amazonian rain forest. In other regions of Brazil and in Portugal, the same name is used for entirely different cakes, so if you've reached here by Googling bolo podre, make sure this is what you want before you cook it.
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RECIPE - "Rotten" Cake (Bolo Podre)
makes 1 large cake

1 cup granulated white sugar
2 lbs grated coconut meat - packaged unsweetened or fresh
1 2/3 cup pearl tapioca
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 cups whole milk
3 cups coconut milk, commercial or homemade
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Mix together the white sugar, the whole milk and the coconut milk, and stir briskly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reserve.

Sprinkle the tapioca over the mixture and let it hydrate completely. Stir in the grated coconut. Mix completely.

Fill a rectangular or tube-shaped cake pan with the mixture, packing it down to eliminate air bubbles. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Unmold the cake onto a serving platter, sprinkle additional grated coconut over if desired, and serve cold.

RECIPE - Tapioca with Sun-dried Beef (Tapioca com Carne de Sol)

Yesterday Flavors of Brazil featured a recipe from northeastern Brazil for tapioca filled with a sweet guava paste mixture. (The recipe is here). Although tapioca is made from manioc starch and not wheat flour, its culinary use in Brazil is not restricted to sweet presentations and recipes. Like the crepes of France, tapioca is just as likely to have a savory filling as it is a sweet one. In fact, people here are so crazy for tapioca in all its forms that they might just buy one tapioca, a savory one, at a tapioca cart, eat it as their main course, and then order a second, sweet one, for dessert.

This recipe is for one of the most loved tapiocas - filled with carne de sol, which is the sun-dried beef of northeastern Brazil, and with Catupiry cheese, Brazil's favorite cream cheese. Since readers of this blog who live outside Brazil aren't likely to find carne de sol at the market, here's a link to a post from last year showing how to make your own carne de sol at home. And any good quality cream cheese can be substituted for Catupiry.

The method used for making the actual tapioca (the crepe) doesn't differ depending on whether it will be savory or sweet, we haven't repeated instructions for making the crepe. They can be found here. This recipe will require two crepes, so you'll need to double all the quantities in yesterday's recipe.
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RECIPE - Tapioca with Sun-dried Beef (Tapioca com Carne de Sol)
Makes 2

2 freshly made tapioca crepes (see above)
1/4 lb (100 gr) carne de sol (defrosted if frozen)
1/3 cup good quality cream cheese, deli-style if possible
1 small onion, finely chopped
softened butter
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Cut the carne de sol into small cubes, about 1/2 inch (1 cm) on a side. In a medium saucepan, bring about 1 quart (1 liter) of water to a boil. Add the meat, reduce heat to low, and simmer for about 10 minutes to draw out excess salt. Drain the meat and let it cool slightly. Reserve.

In a medium frying pan, melt a few tablespoons of butter. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes, or until transparent. Add the reserved carne de sol and continue to cook for about five minutes, or until the meat is cooked through. Remove from heat.

In a blender or food processor combine the cream cheese and the reserved meat-and-onions mixture. Blend until the mixture is homogenous.

Using the method described h , make one tapioca crepe. Remove it from the pan and when it is still hot spread about one tablespoon of softened butter over it. Then spread half of the meat/cream cheese mixture  over it and roll or fold it in half.

Serve immediately, while still hot.

RECIPE - Tapioca with Guava Paste (Tapioca com Goiabada)

This recipe, which comes from Ceará in northeastern Brazil, is a good example of what a nordestino (someone from the northeast) means when they refer to tapioca. As detailed in the preceding post on Flavors of Brazil tapioca is one of those words that carries a number of meanings - a culinary counterpart to what are referred to as false cognates in the world of linguistics.

In Ceará and neighboring states tapioca means a round griddle cake made from manioc/cassava starch and which is rolled or folded over to contain some sort of filling. In this recipe after the tapioca is cooked a layer of guava paste (goiabada) is spread over it, it is rolled and briefly dipped in coconut milk, and then it is served decorated with thinned guava paste and mint leaves.

To make this recipe successfully outside Brazil, you will probably need to visit a Latin American market for a few ingredients. The essential ingredient, obviously, is the manioc starch itself. In Brazil it is sold in supermarkets under the name goma de tapioca if it is fresh, and fecula de mandioca if it is fully dry and needs to be reconstituted with water before using.This dry product can be found in markets which cater to Caribbean, Central American or Brazilian immigrant communities, and in North America it is almost always labeled in three language - as cassava starch in English, amido de yuca in Spanish and fecula de mandioca in Portuguese. The other ingredient you'll need from a Latin market is the guava paste, which is also labeled trilingually - guava paste in English, guayabada in Spanish and goiabada in Portuguese.
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RECIPE - Tapioca with Guava Paste (Tapioca com Goiabada)
makes 1 crepe

1/2 cup dried cassava starch/fecula de mandioca
1 cup water
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup of finely diced guava paste
1/4 cup coconut milk
mint leaves to decorate (optional)
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In a small mixing bowl place the 1/4 cup guava paste and then begin to mash it with a wooden spoon, adding hot water about 1/2 tsp at a time. Continue to mash and add water sparingly until you have a smooth paste that is just liquid enough to pour from a spoon or squirt from a pastry tube.

In another mixing bowl, medium size add the dried cassava starch. Add up to one cup water, only a bit at a time and mixing in totally before adding more water until you reach the texture of small peas, each one separate. Do not over-add water to make a dough. Over a baking sheet, push the starch through a sieve. Let dry on the sheet. You should now have little balls of starch that you are ble to scatter individually.

Heat a dry non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Sprinkle the moistened starch over the bottom of the hot pan, making sure it covers the entire bottom. It should be less than 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick over the entire surface. Let cook for a few minutes or until the starch adheres to inself to make a crepe and it becomes dry and just begins to brown on the bottom side. Using a spatula as an aid, turn the crepe over and cook for just a minute or two. Remove from the heat and using the spatula move the crepe to a large dinner plate.

Spread the surface of the crepe with the 1/2 cup finely diced guava paste, and then roll the crepe loosely around the guava paste. Pour the coconut milk onto another plate and roll the crepe briedly in it.

Finally, place the rolled crepe in the middle of a dessert plate, decorate with liquified guava paste and a mint leaf and serve.

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