The taste of travelling

Passport & Plate - Feijoada

Brazil | Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 3 photos

Ingredients
1Kg of black beans (dry beans)
500g of prok ribs
500g of smoked bacon
500g of Biltong (dry meat)
2 large smoked sausages cut in big chunks
1 chorizo sausage cut in big chuncks
6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
4 bay leaves
4 table spoons of oil
salt, black pepper and cumin to season

 

How to prepare this recipe
Soak the beans in water until it is covered. Leave it to soak overnight. The beans will soak up the water and double their size.
Put the beans in a pressure cooker; add water until it covers all the beans and let it cook for only 20 minutes. You can also cook the beans straight away in the pressure cooker without soaking them overnight – the cooking time will take longer however; around 40 minutes.
When the beans are cooked, let the pressure cooker release all steam before opening it. Transfer the beans to a big pot (enough to fit all the cooked beans and remaining ingredients together). In a pan heat the oil add the onions and garlic and cook until softened. Add the bacon, ribs, sausages and black pepper. Cook for only 5 or 7 minutes. Pour the meat in the pot with cooked beans. Top up with water if necessary. Add the bay leaves and cumin. Cook for about 1 hour until the meat falls off the bone.
As accompaniment you can serve feijoada with white rice cooked with garlic and onions. You can also serve it with finely sliced kale (or silver beat) fried in olive oil with finely chopped garlic. You can also serve it with farofa (cassava flour) and slices of orange.
Enjoy it accompanied by a stupidly cold beer.

 

The story behind this recipe
This recipe is considered one of the heritages of the African slaves that came to Brazil to work in the sugar cane farms. They would cook black beans with all sorts of left-over meat that was given to them – generally pieces that the farmers would not like to eat such as pig ears, cows tongue etc. My mother has indigenous and African blood. We can’t say for sure that she is an indigenous or African descendent because there were no legal registers at the time but we guess based on her features. Beans are also a common food in Brazil. Brazilians will usually eat beans at least once a week no matter which region they belong to. I particularly love beans and love this recipe. I learned how to cook it with my mother, we would always use a big pot so we could make big portion. I remember that on Sundays these would be what we would cook for my extended family. People also typically make this recipe for parties that happen on Sundays during the day – they call it feijoada de Domingo. This recipe is good because it is cheap, you can make a lot out of it and it’s really filling and nutritious, besides it is delicious. As far as I know the only other place in the world that cook beans this way is in Africa. A friend from Cameroon once cooked beans for me in a similar fashion as this recipe and I also tasted a similar dish when I went to South Africa. I have cooked this recipe many times here in New Zealand. I often cook it to my partner and friends. I invite them to join and cook together so they can learn how to make the recipe themselves while I tell them stories about Brazilian culture.