The urge to travel

Passport & Plate - Mukeka Capixaba

Brazil | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 5 photos

Ingredients
-Olive Oil
-6 big red tomatoes
-3 onions
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 lime
-A handful of cilantro
-A big pinch of achiote or annatto (red spice that grows in tropical forest and is mainly used as dye)
-A small pinch of red chilli powder
-A few table spoon of coconut cream or milk, to taste
-500g of white fish (I used tilapia) in fillet
-10 to 15 shrimps
-Salt & Pepper
-Toasted Cassava Flour
-A Brazilian terracotta dish (Mukeka can be cooked in a regular pot, but the terracotta removes the acidity from the tomatoes and the onions. Better yet if the terracotta dish was bought from an old lady somewhere along a dusty road in Brazil)

 

How to prepare this recipe
Mukeka
1) Put the fish fillet on a plate and pour lime juice. The lime juice will prevent the fish fillet from breaking while it cooks.
2) Put the Brazilian terracotta dish on the stove. Pour in enough olive oil to fill the bottom of the dish. Move to dish so that a layer of oil covers the sides of the dish. Turn the stove on at medium heat.
3) When the oil is hot, put the achiote powder and the red chilli powder. Mix.
4) Add the garlic and onions. Stir occasionally until the onions start to be translucent.
5) Add the tomatoes (make sure all the juice from the tomatoes goes into the mixture as well). Turn the heat down to low-medium temperature. Put the lid and let simmer until the tomatoes and the onions are cooked. Stir once in a while to make sure it does not stick to the bottom.
6) Add the coconut cream (or milk). Stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7) Add the fish fillets on top (don’t stir) and put the lid back on. Wait until the fish is almost done.
8) Add the shrimps. Let it cook for a couple minutes more, until the shrimps turn pink. Turn the heat off.
9) Add the cilantro. Put a big handful of toasted cassava flour in a big bowl. Add some of the juice from the mukeka.

Pirão
Mix with the flour. Add more juice as needed until the texture is right. The pirão should be thick, but not stiff, a bit sticky and viscous.

Service
Serve with white rice. Cover with mukeka, a piece of fish, some shrimp and a spoon full of pirão. Put salt and lime on the table for those who like seasoning. This recipe should feed 4 people.

 

The story behind this recipe
Picture this…You are sixteen years old. You have never been abroad, much less without your family. You just left your native Montreal in Canada, heading to spend a year in a city called Vitória, somewhere in Brazil. You had never heard of this city. When you first stepped on Brazilian soil, you did not know a single word of Portuguese and secretly hoped it somewhat resembles your mother tongue, French…This was my introduction to travelling. Luckily, Portuguese turned out easy to learn, the year flew by way too fast and I came home filled with unforgettable memories and an unappeasable urge to travel! The recipe I chose, Mukeka Capixaba, represents that year, because I learned how to cook it by watching my host mother, by smelling and tasting the ingredients, by discovering the textures. You won’t find me making Mukeka Capixaba following a written recipe; the magic lives in my senses! Capixaba, means “from the state of Espírito Santo”, but to me it means a specific time and place in my life, a year was truly transformative, that opened me to the world and began a journey of exploration and a unique encounters. At the dawn of my thirties, I am proud to say that I have lived, worked, played in over 30 countries and my passion for travelling is still growing! When I travel, I always seek opportunities to cook with the people I meet. Not only because I love discovering new flavours, but mainly because food is a door to a society. By cooking with someone, you learn about their way of life, their personal story, the society they evolve within. It is a way to share much more than just a meal. And when I come home, I can invite my family and friends over for a tastefully journey into my most recent travels. Be it breakfast curry from Southern India, quinoa soup from the Bolivian Andes, papaya salad from Cambodia, bolón de verde from Ecuador or momos from Tibet, through those recipes, I have shared unforgettable moments with incredible people, both abroad and at home!