Farofa Recipe

The first time that I tried farofa was in Rio de Janeiro at a cliff side restaurant overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The texture is unlike most foods found in North America in that it is between granular and powdery. Farofa is a popular side dish in Brazil and is often served as a complement to beans.

Farofa's main ingredient is manioc flour. Manioc is also known as cassava or yuca and can be found in most Latin or African markets. It has a long shelf life as long as you keep it in an air-tight container. It also has an interesting history in how it came to be popular with the indigenous people of Brazil and also how it later came to be loved by the Portuguese colonists as well. If you would like to learn more about it and other aspects of Brazil, check out A death in Brazil, by Peter Robb.

You can find many varieties of this dish in Brazil depending on what ingredients are abundant in that particular region and also depending on the time of year. As such, you can always make some form of farofa depending on what ingredients you have on hand at the time.

Ingredients:
1/4 pound bacon
4 tbsp butter
1 tspn palm oil (optional)
1 cup manioc flour
5 large black olives, chopped
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 of yellow onion, diced
1/4 of green pepper, diced
1/4 of red pepper, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
parsley, stems removed and chopped

Preparation:

1. Add bacon to skillet over medium heat. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Discard 3/4 of bacon fat.
2. Add butter and palm oil to skillet over medium heat to melt the butter.
3. Add onions and garlic to the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add red and green peppers to the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes.
5. Add manioc flour to the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add the black olives, hard boiled egg, parsley, and crispy bacon to the skillet.
7. Stir all of ingredients together and reduce heat to low until you are ready to serve.
   

Brasil