“Farofa” is a traditional Brazilian side dish maked with manioc flour. “Farofa” can be more, or less, “moist”, and there are countless ways to prepare it. The recipes below are just suggestions. The “farofa” is a wonderful preparation: one can prepare it with the ingredients you have available at home and it always turns out good!!
Someone is said to be ” fazendo farofa” (making farofa) or to be a “farofeiro” (farofa maker) when he/she spills a lot of food crumbs while eating, just “like a chicken”.
Ingredients
• 150 g bacon cubes
• 150 g butter, lard and oil
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 garlic clove chopped
• 1 apple cubes or 1 banana cubes
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 500 g toasted manioc flour
• hard-boiled eggs into small pieces, optional
• olives chopped, optional
• salt e black pepper
Preparation method
Preparation of the “farofa”:
- Sauté the bacon cubes in oil, butter and lard.
- Add the onion and garlic clove chopped, and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the parsley and the chopped apple or banana and sauté until everything is soft.
- Season with salt and black pepper.
- Add the toasted manioc flour a bit at a time, stir and just let it warm up.
- Finally add olives and hard-boiled eggs cut into small pieces.
- If it’s too dry add a little butter melted.
“Farofa” version for the “feijoada”:
- Sauté 2 chopped onions and 2 chopped garlic cloves in 100 g butter or lard.
- Add a lot of chopped parsley and 500 g of “toasted manioc flour”, stir and just let it warm up.
- Adjust with salt and black pepper.
- It should remain soft and dry.
“Farofa”version to stuff poultry and Christmas turkey:
Prepare the sauté for “farofa” without the bacon and add the chicken or turkey liver and heart cut into a small pieces in the end, without over cooking them.
A “sweet” version of “farofa”:
Add to the sautéed mixture of “farofa”, together with the apple, 100 g of raisins and prunes soaked in warm water, drained and cut into small pieces. Serve on the festive occasions like Christmas and New Year’s eve.
Another “sweet” version of “farofa”:
- Sauté 1 finely chopped onion in 100 g butter or lard.
- Add a lot of chopped parsley and 100 g of raisins and prunes soaked in warm water, drained and cut into small pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
- Finally add 4 hard-boiled yolks eggs passed through a sieve and 500 g of “toasted manioc flour”. Stir and let it warm up.
Posted on: 11 November 2011
I’m an architect. I was born in Brazil and my father was Italian.