RECIPE - Pirarucu a Casaca (Pirarucu in a Tail-coat)

One of the most popular ways to serve pirarucu all throughout the Amazon basin, pirarucu a casaca is a traditional dish at holidays, celebrations and parties. I'm not sure why it's called "pirarucu in a tail-coat" but perhaps it's so-called because it's often served at important functions.

Pirarucu, the giant Amazonian freshwater fish, has been eaten since long before electrical refrigeration reached the Amazon, and in earlier times it was often salted and dried to preserve it from the heat of the tropics, using techniques similar to those employed to make salt-cod (bacalhau). This dish is made of rehydrated salt-pirarucu combined with fried bananas, manioc flour and sauteed shoestring potatoes. In areas where it is impossible to obtain manioc flour, the dish can successfully be made with out it, and salt-cod can be substituted for salt-pirarucu.
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RECIPE - Pirarucu a Casaca (Pirarucu in a Tail-coat)

1 lb (500 gr) dried, salted pirarucu (salt-cod may be substituted)
2 cups (500 ml) canned unsweetened coconut milk
5 ripe bananas, peeled
1 lb (500 gr) boiling potatoes, peeled
1/2 lb (250 gr) fresh or frozen green peas, cooked
4 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup (200 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb (250 gr) tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
4 oz (50 gr) pitted green olives
4 oz (50 gr) pitted black olives
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 cups (500 ml) neutral vegetable oil
1 lb package (500 gr) commercial shoestring potatoes
1/3 lb (200 gr) farinha (manioc flour)
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The day before, cut the salt fish into fish-stick-sized pieces. Cover with cold water, and soak for 24 hours in the refrigerator, changing the water at least four times.

Remove the de-salted fish from the water, let dry, then fry in the olive oil until tender and just starting to flake. Remove from heat, let cool. Remove skin if present. Reserve.

Cut the peeled bananas into thick rounds. Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy saucepan, and when hot but not smoking, deep-fry the banana rounds. Remove from oil, drain on paper towel, then reserve.

Cut the peeled potatoes into 1 inch (2 cm) cubes. Cover with cold water in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil, and when just tender, remove from heat. Immediately plunge into cold water to stop cooking, then drain and reserve.

In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil, then saute the onion and garlic until transparent, but not covered. Add the potatoes, then the chopped tomatoes, plus half of the parsley and green onion. Cook, stirring constantly until the tomatoes soften and the potatoes are heated through.

Combine the manioc flour, a few tablespoons of olive oil, the coconut milk, the hard-boiled eggs and the remaining parsley and green onion. Heat in a large saucepan until the flour absorbs all the liquid and is heated through.

Cover a large platter with the manioc flour mixture. Place the fish decoratively on top, the add banana slices and the the sauteed potatoes. Cover all with sprinkled shoestring potatoes. Serve immediately.

Pirarucu - An Endangered Giant

The world's largest river system, the Amazon, has the world's largest number of freshwater fish species, and most likely the world's largest freshwater fish population. The fish that are found in the lakes, lagoons, streams, creeks and in the large river itself have always been the most important source of animal protein for inhabitants of the region. From tiny minnow-like species to large predatory fish, these animals have been eaten fresh, been smoked or salted, or simply air-dried for countless millennia and continue to be consumed today through the Amazonian basis. Unfortunately, with the large increase in human population, and with modern-day fishing techniques, for many species the 20th and 21st centuries have brought them extreme pressure, and extinction is a distinct possibility for many types of Amazonian fish.

One fish of the Amazonian basis, the pirarucu (known as the arapaima in English), which has become endangered due to its desirability as a food fish, has been adopted by Slow Food Brazil as part of the Brazilian Ark of Taste - a "repository" of at-risk food species and cooking or preserving techniques worthy of protection. Its inclusion on this list is the first step in the development of preservation projects designed to ensure a sustainable fishery for this fish.

The piracuru is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. It has anecdotally been reported to reach up to reach up to 14 feet (4.5m) in length, with a maximum confirmed weight of almost 450 lb (220 kg). It is a living fossil, having existed essentially unchanged since the Jurassic era. It has successfully adapted itself to life in the slow-moving waters of the Amazon's lakes and lagoons through the development of a rudimentary type of lung, which allows it to breathe air directly when the surrounding water is oxygen-deprived.

The piracuru is an important part of the nutrition of the riverside human population of the Amazon. The flesh has very few bones, and piracuru is eaten fresh, smoked, or salted and dried somewhat like salt cod (bacalhau). Besides the meat, other parts of the fish are used by locals - the piracuru's bony tongue is used to grate guaraná, and the skin, once dried, is used like leather in the fabrication of clothes and artisanal arts and crafts.

In the next post on Flavors of Brazil, there will be a recipe for one of the most well-known local dishes made from piracuru - piracuru de casaca.

Ranking chilis - The Scoville Scale

A while ago, I posted an article on Flavors of Brazil detailing the antics and activities of a group of hot chili fans from São Paulo, the Jolokianos. They are united in their love (and tolerance) for the world's hottest pepper, the Bhut Jolokia. The status that this chili enjoys as the top dog of the the world's hot peppers isn't merely an impression, it's a proven fact. In 1912, an American chemist, Wilbur Scoville developed a scale for determining the relative hotness/pungency of any species of chili pepper, and he called it the Scoville Organoleptic Test.

The Scoville Organoleptic Test is not infallible, as it based on the taste perceptions of five human tasters, but it does provide a reliable guide to the relative strength of the capsaicin oil content of a species or hybrid of chili pepper.

Although the Bhut Jolokia is the "hottest" chile in the world, with a Scoville rating of 1 million, it is not common in Brazil, nor is its use traditional. Certain regional cuisines of Brazil do make extensive use of chilis, and chili "heat" is an important part of their flavor profiles. It's interesting to see where the chilis commonly used in Brazilian cuisine fit on the Scoville scale, in comparison to other Brazilian chilis, and to other chiles used elsewhere in the world.

Here is a basic rundown of the relative "heat" of a number of Brazilian and non-Brazilian chilis, starting with the Bhut Jolokia, the world's hottest, with following chilis becoming progressively milder. The chilis are broken into three group: hot, medium, and mild.

HOT CHILIS: 
Bhut Jolokia (Scoville 1,000,000)
The hottest in the world, colored red and brown. Don't try to eat uncooked.

Bhut Jolokia

Red Savina (up to Scoville 580,000)
Hybridized in California, with undulating shape. Makes good sauces and preserves.

Red Savina

Habanero (Scoville 500,000)
When ripe very hot. Various colors. Used in making salsas, moles and chutneys.

Habanero

Scotch Bonnet (Scoville 250,000)
Flattened and irregular. Fruity aroma. Used in Caribbean sauces, like jerk.

Scotch Bonnet

Malagueta (Scoville 100,000)
Hottest Brazilian chili on this list. Iconic chili of Bahia. Goes well with fish and meat dishes.

Malagueta

MEDIUM CHILIS:
Murupi (Scoville 60,000)
Aromatic. Abundant in the north of Brazil, where it is preserved in whey.

Murupi

Fidalga (Scoville 50,000)
Common in the states of Mato Grosso and São Paulo. Makes good sauces and preserves, and accompanies salads.

Fidalga

Pimenta-de-bode (Scoville 50,000)
In the state of Goiás it is used to flavor almost all of traditional daily dishes.

Pimenta-de-bode

Cayenne (up to Scoville 50,000)
Eaten dried and ground in Africa and India. Indispensable in Cajun cooking.

Cayenne

Tabasco (up to Scoville 50,000)
Elongated, colored red or yellow. Highly flavored, used primarily in sauces, including Tabasco Sauce.

Tabasco

Cumari (up to Scoville 50,000)
Brazilian green chili, with small egg-shaped fruit. Can be eaten fresh or cooked in sauces.

Cumari

MILD CHILIS:
Pimenta-de-cheiro (Scoville 20,000)
Color varies from light green to bright yellow. Common in the north and southeast of Brazil. Aromatic.

Pimenta-de-cheiro

Dedo-de-Moça (Scoville 15,000)
Green and elongated. When dried and ground it is known in the south of Brazil as pimenta-calabresa.

Dedo-de-Moça

Jalapeño  (Scoville 5,000)
Along with the tabasco chili, it is the most consumed in the USA. Makes excellent sauces.

Jalapeño

Biquinho (Scoville 1,000)
Very mild. Small and sweet, it is used in sauces, pickled or eaten raw.

Biquinho

The chilis in this list that are used most in Brazilian cuisine represent a good sampling of Brazil's chili harvest, but certainly not the totality. There are literally thousands of varieties of chili peppers that are used daily by chefs and cooks in the creation of Brazilian cuisine, both traditional and contemporary. From the relative ranking, you can see that Brazilian gastronomy is not afraid of hot chilis; on the other hand, with the exception of the Bahian regional cuisine, is it among the world's "spiciest" cuisines. The contribution of chilis to the flavors of Brazil is most often in the form of a hot chili sauce, and thus the amount of heat desired is very much a personal one. One person at the table might want to add 500,000 Scoville units to his or her meal, another 5,000 and another none at all. By keeping the "heat" in a tabletop sauce, all these options are open to the Brazilian diner.

RECIPE - (Baião for Two) Baião-de-Dois

Continuing Flavor of Brazil's exploration of the humble black-eyed pea (feijão-fradinho in Portuguese) this recipe comes from the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, and differs from most black-eyed pea recipes in that it uses freshly-picked beans, rather than dried ones.

Luiz Gonzaga

The dish is called baião-de-dois, which might be translated into English as "baião for two" or "baião of two."  The baião is a typical folk dance of Ceará, and has a rhythm that is still part of the music culture of that state. In the middle years of the 20th century, two well-known and well-loved musicians (Humberto Teixeira and Luís Gonzaga) wrote and popularized a song called Baião-de-Dois, and somehow the name attached itself to a simple but delectable dish of fresh black-eyed peas and rice cooked together. Presumably, someone thought that the two ingredients went together like a couple smoothly dancing the baião, and the name stuck. If you'd like to hear the song, I've embedded a YouTube video below of an amateur version. It's very sweet and nostalgic:




There are innumerable variations and countless recipes for baião-de-dois. Some are very basic - just a combination of beans and rice with flavoring elements - and some are more complex. Many versions of the dish add carne de sol, the dried beef typical of northeastern Brazil. Others add pork. And everyone in Ceará thinks that their mother's or grandmother's recipe is the only true recipe for baião-de-dois. The following recipe is my own, combining elements from many recipes in an attempt to recreate the Ur-baião-de-dois. 
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RECIPE - (Baião for Two) Baião-de-Dois
Serves 6

1 lb (500 gr) fresh, shucked black-eyed peas
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 large yellow onion, grated
1 Tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. neutral vegetable cooking oil
2 1/2 cups long-grain rice, washed and drained
6 cups (1.5 litres) light chicken, beef or vegetable stock
salt to taste
5 oz. (150 gr) home-style cream cheese or ricotta salata
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In a large heavy pan, cook the black-eyed peas until just tender (about 15-25 minutes, depending on the freshness and age of the beans). Drain, and refresh under cold water to stop the cooking process.

In another large heavy pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat, then saute the garlic and onions briefly until transparent but not browned. Add the rice and chopped cilantro and continue to cook until the rice becomes transparent. Stir in the beans, add the stock and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover pan, and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until all the stock is absorbed. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt, and let stand for five minutes.

Meanwhile, crumble the cheese, or form into small balls, depending on the consistency of the cheese. Briefly uncover the pan, stir in the cheese, then recover it. Let the dish stand for another five minutes to melt the cheese.

Stir the dish once more to distribute the melted cheese, then turn it into a serving dish and serve immediately.

RECIPE - Abará

The Afro-Brazilian dish from the state of Bahia called abará is based on a dough or paste made from mashed black-eyed peas. This same dough is also the starting point for the most famous of Bahian dishes acarajé. In the case of acarajé the dough is formed into a ball and deep-fried in a fragrant palm oil known as dendê, while acarajé is made by wrapping the dough into packets inside banana leaves, then steaming them.

While making the dough from dried black-eyed peas may seem like a simple task, and certainly reads like one in a recipe, it's far from fast-n-easy. I once decided to treat some Canadian friends to homemade acarajé at a dinner party, a decision which I regretted almost immediately, and which I'll never repeat. To make either acarajé or abará a pound of dried beans must be soaked for twenty-four hours, and then the skins must be taken off them - bean by bean! I have no idea how many beans make up a pound, but taking off those skins takes hours and hours of labor. Some slide off easily and some do not. I seriously do not know how the women who sell acarajé at streetside stands do it every day - they must have armies of bean-skinners at home removing those little black-eyed skins. So, if you do decide to try the following recipe for abará, don't say you haven't been warned. You'll be de-skinning for hours and it'll be weeks before your fingertips lose their "prunes." If you do decide to go ahead, you're in for a absolutely delicious plate of food, with all the soul of Afro-Brazilian tradition. Making abará is a lose-win situation. Go ahead, give it a try.

abará dough

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RECIPE - Abará

1 lb (500 gr) dried black-eyed peas
1  large yellow onion, coarsely grated
1 cup small dried shrimp (available in Asian and Latin American markets)
2 small red Thai chilis (1 serrano chili can be substituted), seeded and chopped
1/2 cup dendê oil (available in Latin American and African markets, often labelled "palm oil")
banana leaves to wrap (available in Asian and Latin American markets)
kitchen twine
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The evening before serving place the black-eyed peas in cold water to cover, with 3 inches of water above the top of the beans. Let soak overnight. In the morning, they will be soft and swollen.

De-skin the black-eyed peas, bean by bean, removing the papery skin and the "black eye". Put the peas through a meat grinder, using the finest grind, or process briefly, in batches, in a food processor. Do not overprocess, or the dough will become sticky and pasty.

Put the dough in a large mixing bowl, and beat with a large wooden spoon until it become light and airy. Add the dried shrimp, the chili and the dendê oil. Beat again to thoroughly mix.

Cut the banana leaves with scissors into squares of approximately 8 inches (20 cm) on a side. Place a wooden-spoonful of dough in the center of a square, fold over each side to make a square package, and then tie with kitchen twine. Continue until you have wrapped all the dough in banana leaves.

Steam the packages in a large covered stockpot or other steaming device, cooking them for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool completely.

Serve the abará at room temperature, still in their banana-leaf packages, accompanied by some sort of fresh made hot chili sauce.

Recipe translated and adapted from Receitas tradicionais da cozinha baiana by Ligia Junqueira.

Abará - Bahia's Version of a Pamonha/Tamal

In yesterday's post on Flavors of Brazil, while discussing how important the black-eyed pea (feijão-fradinho) has always been in traditional Brazilian gastronomy, I mentioned that it was particularly associated with the regional cuisine of the state of Bahia, the center of Brazil's Afro-Brazilian culture. Salvador, the capital of Bahia, was the capital of all of Brazil during earlier colonial times, and was the center of a vast area of sugar-cane cultivation. The agriculture of sugar cane requires a tremendous amount of human labor, a need which was met with the transportation of millions of Africans to work in the fields as slaves. Among the things that arrived in Brazil in their meager belongings must have been some black-eyed peas, which were planted and which thrived in Bahia.

In addition to eating these legumes cooked but whole, the black cooks of Bahia learned to de-skin black-eyed peas, mash them, and use the mashed beans to create a number of dishes, some of which have become iconic dishes of Afro-Brazilian cuisine. The most famous, without a doubt, is acarajé, a fritter made of frying mashed black-eyed peas in dendê palm oil. (Click here to read about acarajé on Flavors of Brazil.) Another dish made with the same mashed beans is called abará, and it's related both to Mexico's tamales, and to the Brazilian cornmeal dish pamonha.  What all three dishes have in common is that they share the common technique of wrapping a moist paste in banana leaves, and then steaming them. This technique is common throughout Latin American, and these are not the only examples. But it does show how a shared method of cooking is modified and adapted to local conditions - in the case of abará, by substituting mashed black-eyed peas for cornmeal.

Like acarajé, abará is not just a well-loved traditional dish. It is also intensely associated with the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, and in that religious tradition it is one of the ritual foods offered to the gods and goddesses of Candomblé, the Orixás, during ceremonial occasions.

Black-eyed Peas - The Bean, Not The Group

Beans, fresh or dried, are one of the cornerstones of Brazilian nutrition. Consequently, they are also fundamental in Brazilian traditional gastronomy. They are the most important source of protein for the poorer strata of society - those who cannot afford to regularly consume animal protein. Without the proteins provided by beans, the good nutritiion of millions of Brazilians would be at risk.

In earlier posts on Flavors of Brazil, you can find discussions of some of the most common species of beans consumed in Brazil, such as the feijão carioca (Carioca bean) and the feijão preto (Black bean). Besides these two, there are many other varieties of beans in the Brazilian bean-pot. Which bean is most likely to make its way to your table depends on your economic level, your geographical location, and often, your racial background.

One bean is particularly associated with all aspects of Afro-Brazilian culture; understandably so, since this particular bean, unlike most beans, originated not in the Americas but rather in tropical Africa. It probably arrived in Brazil on board slave ships bringing African slaves to Portugal's South American colonies - current-day Brazil. It's scientific name is vigna unguiculata, and in English it's most commonly called "Black-eyed pea." It is the most commonly consumed bean in large parts of Brazil, particularly in the state of Bahia, where the cultural influence of Africa is most strongly felt in Brazil, and in the traditionally-poor regions of Brazil's northeast, where this bean will grow in the infertile soils and harsh semi-arid climatic conditions which prevail locally.

One of the many fascinating things about the black-eyed pea is the huge number of common names it carries in the Portuguese of Brazil. In English there are only a few names for  vigna unguiculata - black-eyed pea, black-eyed bean, cowpea or lobia. But there is a rich range of names attached to vigna unguiculata in Brazil. Some are quaint, some humorous, but all are regional. Here are just a few:

boca-preta (black mouth)
ervilha-de-vaca (cow pea)
favalinha (little fava bean)
feijão-alfanje (scimitar bean)
feijão-careta (straight bean)
feijão-chícharo (chickpea bean)
feijão-chicote (whip bean)
feijão-chinês (Chinese bean)
feijão-congo (Congo bean)
feijão-corda (string bean)
feijão-de-boi (ox bean)
feijão-de-frade (monk's bean)
feijão-de-olho-preto (black-eyed bean)
feijão-de-vara (pole bean)
feijão-fradinho (little monk bean)
feijão-galego (Galician bean)
feijão-lagartixa (lizard bean)
feijão-mineiro (miner's bean, bean from Minas Gerais)
feijão-miúdo (tiny bean)
feijão-miúdo-da-China (tiny Chinese bean)
feijão-vinha (vineyard bean)
feijão-verde (green bean)

In the next few posts on Flavors of Brazil, I'll cover this bean in more detail, concentrating on its use in the traditional gastronomy of Bahia and of Brazil's northeast.