Top 10 Brazilian food recipes: FIFA world cup special

Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

1.5 pounds chicken breasts (about 4 halves)

4-5 cups of chicken broth

1 carrot

2 onions

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic

Juice of 1 lime

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

2-3 cups of flour

2 eggs

2-3 cups of very finely grated bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the chicken breasts in a large shallow pot. Cover them with the chicken broth, adding water if necessary to make sure the chicken breasts are covered by at least 1/2" of liquid.

Add the carrot and one of the onions (peeled and halved) as well as the bay leaves.

Bring liquid to a gentle simmer, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through (barely pink in the middle of the thickest part). It's necessary to cut into the chicken to tell when it is done. If some of the breasts cook more quickly, you can remove them earlier.

Set chicken aside to cool, and strain the broth. Reserve broth.

Shred the chicken into very small pieces.

Stir the softened cream cheese and lime juice into the shredded chicken.

Finely chop the second onion and the garlic. Sauté the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter until golden and soft.

Add the hot onions and garlic to the chicken mixture and stir until everything is well mixed.

Measure the chicken broth (you will probably have about 3 1/2 cups). If you have less than three cups, add more canned chicken broth to make 3 cups. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan, and gradually stir in the same amount of flour as you have broth (so if you have 3 1/2 cups broth, add 3 1/2 cups flour).

Stir vigorously and cook for 2-3 minutes. Mixture will become a stiff dough. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

At this point, you can chill the chicken mixture and the dough for several hours or overnight.

To shape the coxinhas, take a piece of the dough about the size of a golf ball with floured hands. Roll it into a ball, then hollow out the middle for the filling.

Press a golfball size (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) piece of the chicken filling inside the ball of dough, and press the dough closed around the filling. Shape into an approximate drumstick shape, flouring hands as necessary. Stand the coxinhas on a baking sheet, so that the pointed end sticks upwards. Continue until you run out of dough or filling.

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs in a shallow pan (like a cake pan) and season with salt and pepper.

Dip the coxinhas in the egg, then in the breadcrumbs to coat. Chill the breaded coxinhas for 1 hour.

Fill a heavy-bottomed pot with enough oil to cover the coxinhas. Heat the oil to 360 degrees. Fry the coxinhas in batches until deep golden brown.

Serve warm.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 1/4 cups tapioca flour

4 eggs

2 cups grated farmer's cheese, or any firm, fresh cows milk cheese

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)

salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix milk, salt, vegetable oil and butter in a pot, and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, remove from heat.

Stir tapioca flour into the milk and butter mixture.

Stir in the eggs and the cheese, and mix well.

Let mixture cool for 15-30 minutes, so that it will be easier to handle.

With floured (tapioca flour) hands, shape the dough into golf ball size balls (about 50 gram portions) and place them on a baking sheet.

Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are puffed up and are golden. They will rise slowly and puff up mostly in the last 5 or 10 minutes.

Serve warm.

1 large onion, finely chopped

8 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon palm oil

2 cups manioc flour

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped black olives (If needed)

1/2 cup diced hard boiled egg (If needed)

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.

Add the onions and cook until very soft and golden, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the manioc flour and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 more minutes until well mixed and evenly toasted.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in optional balck olives and/or hard boiled eggs if desired.

Serves: 5

500g dried pinto beans

250g smoked bacon

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves - peeled and chopped

30g butter

4 eggs

200g toasted cassava (manioc) flour

1. Add beans to a pressure cooker and cover with water. Bring to high heat and cook the beans for about 20 minutes under pressure. Drain and set aside.

Chop the bacon and place it in a large frying pan over medium heat; fry until crisp (approximately 5 minutes). Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Discard 2/3 of the fat in the pan and return pan to the heat.

Cook onion and add garlic in the bacon fat for about 2 minutes, add the cooked beans and season with salt to taste. Fry for a minute, stirring constantly; set aside.

Separately, melt butter in a large saucepan; add eggs and scramble, stirring well. Once eggs are scrambled, add toasted flour and cook, stirring, until golden brown.

Add reserved bacon and beans, stir well and serve hot.

Yield:12

Pastry 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

10 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

5 -7 tablespoons ice water

Custard

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 cup granulated sugar

6 egg yolks

Make the pastry. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the flour, salt and sugar to combine.

Add the butter and pulse until the flour resembles coarse, uneven cornmeal, about 10 1-second pulses.

Drizzle 5 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture.

Pulse several times to work the water into the flour.

Add the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue pulsing until the mixture develops small curds.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, shape it into a disc and cover with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough to 1/16-inch thickness.

Cut out 6 (4 1/2-inch) circles.

(If you don't have a cookie cutter, a wide-mouth jar works well.) Ease the dough circles into a 12-cup (4-ounce capacity) nonstick muffin tin, pressing out any overlapping folds.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Place the tin in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Remove and trim any overhang with the back of a knife so that the pastry cups are flush with the top of the tins.

Line dough cups with cupcake papers and fill with dried beans or pastry weights.

Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8 to 10 minutes to set.

Make the custard. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/4 cup of the cream in a medium bowl.

Add the remaining cream and sugar, and stir until the mixture is smooth and the sugar dissolves. Check for sugar granules with a spoon; none should remain.

In a small bowl, blend the yolks with a fork until smooth.

Add the yolks to the cream mixture, stirring gently to combine. Ladle the egg mixture into the partially baked pastry cups, filling to 2/3 capacity.

Bake in at 350°F (180°C) until the edges of the custard are puffed and middle is still jiggly, about 20 to 25 minutes.

(The custard will continue to cook.) Cool completely in the tin. The pastéis are best when eaten the same day.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2-1 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

In a deep fryer or skillet, heat several inches of vegetable oil to 360 degrees (F).

In a small bowl, stir the cinnamon into the 1/2 cup sugar and set aside.

Mix the flour, salt and 3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl.

Stir in the eggs and 1/2 cup buttermilk with a wooden spoon. Add more buttermilk, slowly, until mixture has the consistency of a very thick cake batter.

Stir in the baking powder.

Using 2 teaspoons (or a small cookie scoop), scoop a generous teaspoon of batter and carefully drop it into the oil, using the second spoon to help scrape the dough off of the first one. Repeat with several more teaspoons, but do not overcrowd the doughnuts or they will stick together.

Cook the doughnuts, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides.

Remove doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon, and drain briefly on paper towels.

Roll the doughnuts in the cinnamon sugar while still hot.

Cook the rest of the doughnuts in batches.

Doughnuts are best served warm, and can be reheated or kept warm in the oven.

Makes about 25 small round doughnuts.

Ingredients:

2 cups torn pieces of white bread

1/2 cup coconut milk

3/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts

3/4 cup roasted, salted cashews

2 cups water or fish stock

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lime

1 pound of frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 large onion

1 red chile pepper, roughly chopped with seeds removed

1 clove garlic

3 tablespoons palm oil, or vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Soak the bread pieces with the coconut milk for 10 minutes. Place them in the blender (with the coconut milk) and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Grind the peanuts and the cashews in a food processor until finely ground. Set aside.

Bring 2 cups of fish stock or water to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, and add the garlic and juice of one lime. Add the shrimp and boil until pink, about 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp and set aside. Reserve cooking liquid.

In the same food processor, add the onion, chile pepper, and garlic, and process until finely chopped.

Heat the palm oil (or vegetable oil) in a skillet, and sauté onion mixture for about 5 minutes, until soft and golden.

Add the ground nuts to the skillet and sauté a few minutes more, adding a little oil if necessary, until golden.

Add the bread crumb and coconut milk mixture and 1 1/2 cups of the shrimp cooking liquid to the skillet. Cook, stirring, until sauce has thickens, about 5 minutes, adding more liquid if necessary.

Add shrimp to sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve warm, over rice.

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

1 onion

1 teaspoon chile powder

1 cup small shrimp, fresh or frozen, shelled and de-veined

2 tablespoons palm oil or olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cans black-eyed peas

1 clove of garlic

1 onion

1 small chili pepper

1-2 tablespoons flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Palm oil and/or vegetable oil for frying

Make filling: Slice the onion very thinly. Place the sliced onions in a skillet with the olive oil or palm oil, sprinkle with salt and chile powder, and cook on low heat until they are soft and golden brown (about 15 minutes).

Add the shrimp and sauté until shrimp are pink. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Make the fritters: Thoroughly drain the black-eyed peas and place them in the food processor. Roughly chop the onion and garlic, and add it to the peas.

Remove the seeds and white parts from the inside of the chile pepper and add to the processor.

Process mixture just until very well-blended, adding a tablespoon or two of water or broth if needed.

Add flour by the tablespoon, until the mixture is stiff enough to hold a shape. Divide into 15 pieces, and shape into balls or ovals with the palms of your hand.

Heat 2 inches palm oil and/or vegetable oil in a pot on medium high heat. Fry several fritters at a time until browned on all sides. Drain fritters on a plate lined with paper towels. Fritters can be kept warm in a 200 degree oven.

Split fritters in half and fill with a spoonful of the onion and shrimp mixture. Serve warm

Ingredients

Makes 2 servings (Increase/Decrease).

Preparation time is 10 min

4 slice • bread

1 • butter (just enough to coat bread slices)

1 • banana

2 slice • cheese of your choice (use yellow american)

Spread butter (or butter equivalent) on one side of all the bread slices. (if you don't mind calories, butter both sides of every slice. that's how us brazilians do it in my house)

Slice the banana in half and then slice each half long ways into about 4 even slices

Place banana slices on unbuttered side of bread and place cheese on banana.

Put the top slice of bread on, buttered side facing out.

Repeat steps to make 2nd sandwich.

Heat up flat top until drop of water evaporates quickly (a large skillet will work too) add sandwich and reduce heat to medium- high. Sing a spatula, push the sandwich down when you don't hear as much sizzling.

When you hear no more sizzling and the bottom is golden, flip it! squish down again. the point is to make the sandwich as flat as you can.

The sandwich is done when the banana is well and melted, and the outsides are golden and crispy.

Some people like more or less banana. It will take some experimenting to discover how you like it best.

* 450g/1lb Cassava (manioc, Yucca)

* Water

* Salt

* Vegetable Oil for deep-frying

* Garlic or Onion Salt to serve

1. Peel the cassava and cut into 12mm/½ inch wedges. Place the cassava and salt in a large saucepan with plenty of water, bring to the boil then cook for 20-30 minutes or until tender.

2. Preheat the oil to 180C/350F.

3. Drain the cooked cassava well and dry on kitchen paper.

4. Deep fry in batches for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

5. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Serve immediately.