{"id":3268,"date":"2018-12-14T16:03:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T16:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/?p=3268"},"modified":"2018-12-14T16:11:12","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T16:11:12","slug":"why-cook-brazilian-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/globalfoodways\/why-cook-brazilian-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Cook Brazilian Food?"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHY Cook Brazilian Food?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

When I first decided to make a Brazilian dish, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn\u2019t have any background knowledge on the culture, history, region, or even famous dishes. I knew I had a friend from high school from Sao Paolo, and that there was a fancy restaurant in downtown Birmingham that served endless meat and that was \u201cBrazilian.\u201d<\/p>\n

My mom grew up in Florence, Alabama and my Dad in New Orleans, Louisiana. Both of these southern regions of the U.S. have had an effect on my life and the way I eat food. I love my Mom\u2019s country cooking and my Dad\u2019s Cajun upbringing. So, when I started to research some on Brazil, I homed in on an area known as Bahia.<\/p>\n

Bahia immediately caught my eye because it was on an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. I love watching this show, and when watching the episode about Bahia, Brazil, I immediately noticed how cool it looked when Bourdain walked through the roaring streets full of laughter, music, and dancing. Right then and there, I knew I needed to try some of that food whether it be a fried Acaraj\u00e9 or some spicy Moqueca. I decided to try to cook Moqueca because it was at the top of the list for famous Brazilian foods, plus, it looked delicious.<\/p>\n

BEFORE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

So, this whole dish is a seafood stew with some rice; all the ingredients you can find at almost any grocery store. You\u2019re going to want one and a half pounds of Mahi Mahi (you can substitute any fish here), eight ounces of shrimp (I\u2019d recommend already peeled and deveined), two limes, seven cloves of garlic (minced or a jar of already minced garlic), ginger (minced), melted palm oil (I just used vegetable oil. Palm oil is better for you though), two teaspoons of red pepper flakes, sliced onion, sliced bell peppers, chopped tomatoes, one cup of fish stock (vegetable stock also works as a substitute), one cup of coconut milk, cilantro, basil, salt, pepper, one to two cups of rice (recipe recommended jasmine rice and it turned out great with that).<\/p>\n

PREPERATION WORK<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Once you have all your groceries, you can start! I know you can buy already chopped onions and peppers and all that stuff, but I wanted to go all out and do every step the long way. So, for prep work, you need to chop all your vegetables and slice all that needs to be sliced. Another part of the prep work includes marinating. The fish and shrimp need to marinate for about thirty minutes before being put into the stew, so I would honestly start with that and then start chopping and the rest of the cooking, so you can be doing other things while the fish marinates. Combine the fish (Mahi Mahi), shrimp, lime juice, garlic, ginger and oil in a bowl. Then \u201ctoss,\u201d all these ingredients, and let them marinate for 30 minutes (to be sanitary I put the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate). After you finished chopping and starting the rice (see below) and 30 minutes have gone by, drain the fish and shrimp. It will be put in to the stew later!<\/p>\n

RICE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The rice was fairly simple. You just need to follow the instructions on the package. Boil the amount of water it says and add the rice.<\/p>\n

STEW!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The stew got a little bit more involved, but after a few steps it\u2019s a waiting game! The was a fun part of the process because you get to start just dumping stuff in and tasting. First, put in your oil, then add the garlic, red pepper flakes, onions and bell peppers and saut\u00e9 for four to five minutes until the onions are \u201csoft.\u201d To saut\u00e9, just turn the heat on high and make sure the ingredients aren\u2019t burning! This part you really need to stand over it. This might be self-explanatory, but to know how an onion is soft, just poke the onions with the utensil you are using to saut\u00e9 and if they seem soft, that is when they are \u201cdone.\u201d After the saut\u00e9 is complete, put in the tomatoes and stir. Salt and pepper as needed. Then turn the heat down and \u201cnestle\u201d the seafood at the bottom of the pot. I personally just used a spoon and made little spots for it all to sit in, like eggs in an egg container. Immediately following, pour in the fish stock (or vegetable stock) and the coconut milk to the pan. It should just about cover the fish and shrimp. Lower the heat again, cover the pot and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the different seasonings (lime, cilantro, basil, salt and pepper) to your liking. After the 10 minutes, check and see if the fish flakes apart and if so, it is done.<\/p>\n

SERVE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

To serve, I put my rice in a small bowl and then using a ladle poured the stew over the rice in the bowl. This is the part that reminded me of New Orleans a lot because it reminded me of Gumbo except there was no roux and it was so much spicier! But enjoy!<\/p>\n

Recipe<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n