Temperatures have dropped, it’s time to warm up the menu

 

Rafaela Polo

 

Temperatures fell again in some states of the country. Is yours one of them? Get ready to warm up with a very rich and Brazilian menu:

 

Spotted Sorubim Mojica
This recipe is some kind of a stew and is great in cold weather. In the Midwest, cooked manioc enriches the recipe; in the Amazon region, it is more common to use uarini flour and the ones made with local fishes. Curiosity: the word mojica is from Tupi language and means a broth thickened with flour.

 

Maniçoba
Take note: this dish is also known as “feijoada from Pará” (and feijoada is known by being a preparation that warms the body!) and it can be found in the local markets, ready to be eaten anytime. The wisdom of cooking manioc for the long and necessary time – to nullify the poison from cassava leaves – is passed on from generation to generation. At home, the advice is to use only the pre-cooked manioc.

 

Soft Polenta With Bolognese Sauce
Soft polenta with minced meat is one of the best winter comfort foods. Served soft, it resembles a thickened broth that works very well in old nights.

 

Ceará Style Fish Stew
Fish also goes well in winter foods. As in moqueca baiana, this fish stew from Ceará is also cooked in coconut milk. The difference is the side dishes, a preparation that is the star on the coast of Ceará.

 

Vaca Atolada
A nice stew with cassava and beef. From the pans of Minas Gerais in the early 18th century, at the height of gold and diamond mining, came there were simple recipes with ingredients that traveled the country on the animals’ backs. That is the origin of the name and the fame of the dish (vaca atolada means stuck cow in Portuguese) and today this is a typical preparation from countryside cuisine. Bovine ribs and cassava are the elements that are always present in the variations of the recipe throughout the country – and is precisely in cassava that the meat is “stuck”.

 

Stew
Traditionally served on Mondays in the neighborhood of Ribeira, in Salvador, it is also present in several other points of northeastern Brazil. In the Southeast region, the prevailing recipe is of Portuguese origin, with potatoes and carrots. As we move towards Northeast, we find stews with more fatty meats and the choice of vegetables can also change, with ingredients such as gherkin and pumpkin. “The stew is the case of an universal dish, the most elementary preparation wherever the ox is not sacred”, writes Odylo Costa Filho. It is worth remembering that, in the Northeast, as important as the stew itself is the resulting broth, used to make the mush that accompanies the dish.

 

Goat’s Entrails
Goat meat has a stronger taste and requires strong spices for its recipes. This combination will raise your temperature this winter.