Tapas from Brazil
Aipim, Chourico, Torresmo and a Recipe for Bolinhos de Bacalhau
Much like its Spanish counterpart, Brazillian tapas come in small, tasting plates and include ingredients such as salads, chicken livers, mandioc, potatoes and sausage.
Bar food, tapas, finger food, or Petiscos, here's a sampling menu from Brazil. Less well known than their Spanish cousins, Petiscos are every bit as tantalizing, and inventive.
Senhor Augustinho, from Gatos de Botas has been making Petiscos for 45 years. Here is his menu:
Gatos de Botas Tasting Menu
- Aipim - boiled mandioc pieces, seasoned, and dressed in extra virgin olive oil.
- Marisco com cheiro de verde- A salad of steamed mussels, garlic, chopped parsley, spring, and red onions. Drizzled with olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- Batatas Calebreza - New potatoes, finely sliced red onions, presunto, mild red chillies, and parsley, drizzled with olive oil.
- Jilo-Quiabo-Maxixi - Brazilian vegetables, boiled, and mixed with finely sliced red onions, and presunto, drowned in olive oil.
- Bolinhos de Vagem - Crispy, mixed vegetable fritters, seasoned.
- Bolinhos de Bacalhau - deep fried cod fish balls, served with olive oil, and fresh limes.
- Torresmo - deep fried strips of skinless pork fat, with extra virgin olive oil, and lime juice.
- Moela - sauteed chicken livers, heart, and intestines, with garlic, chopped tomatoes, and onions, olive oil, and seasoned. Be assured, it's alot better than it sounds.
- Chourico - Brazilian blood sausages, heaped in onions, and parsley. Drizzled in olive oil.
- Piao defumado -smoked sausages, sprinkled with mixed herbs, and seasoned.
- Lingua - Stewed beef tongue, onions, tomatoes, and parsley.
- Carne Seca com farofa -air dried beef, sprinkled with forafa, and olive oil.
- Salada de Bacalhau -a salad of salted cod, white beans, parsley, sliced pitted green olives, whole black olives, tomato concasse, and sliced boiled eggs, drizzled in olive oil, and seasoned with pepper.
- Carne Assada com Linguica - Finely sliced roast beef and spicy Brazilian sausages with red onions, fresh lemon and pineapple.
- Roast pork - sliced, with red onions, fresh lemon and pineapple.
Petisoces aren't complete without Bolinhos de Bacahlau. Probably the most popular of Petiscos, salty, crunchy, light, and extremely addictive.
Bolinhos de Bacalhau
Ingredients
- 250 grams of salted cod or Bacalhau
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 500 grams of potatoes
- A splash of dende oil
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- 3 or 4 tbsp of all purpose flour
- Chopped fresh parsley and spring onions
- Qty vegetable oil for deep frying.
Method
- Immerse the Bacalhau in cold water, discard and refresh every 3 hours or so, leave overnight in the refrigerator. Drain.
- Boil the bacalhau in fresh water for 10 minutes or so until it starts to separate from the bone.
- Remove from heat, and cool.
- Separate flesh from bones with a fork. Discard bones.
- Boil, potatoes (without salt), drain, return to the oven top and heat for a minute or so, to dry the potatoes out and remove any remaining liquid. Mash with dende oil, or olive oil, if dende isn't available.
- Combine all remaining ingredients.
- Form into balls, and leave to set slightly in the refrigerator.
- Deep fry, at around 180-200 degrees, until golden brown, drain, and serve, hot.
These can easily be served as a canape as pictured here. Best with a squeeze or two of lime juice, and a glass of cold beer. Crunch, chew, savour and gulp.
Bom apetite.
Gatos de Botas is at Rua Torres Homem, Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
