Brazil: Get to Know the Brazilian Cuisine With These 5 Famous Dishes

Brazil is famous for several things, including its world-known carnival or samba. But for others, they are looking forward to get a taste of Brazilian cuisine that embraces foreign influences such as Portuguese, West African, and Japanese mixed with indigenous ingredients.

The usual ingredients used in Brazilian dishes are cassava root, yams, cashews, and acai. It is then incorporated with wine, dairy products, and leafy vegetables introduced by European settlers, according to Will Fly for Food feature.

Africans and Japanese immigrants in Brazil brought with them dishes and techniques that have been incorporated into Brazilian cuisine.

The dishes in northeast Brazil are influenced by African cuisine, while the southeastern city of Sao Paolo caters to Asian-influenced pastel.

Top 5 Famous Dishes in Brazil

To give you an idea of what to eat when you visit Brazil, here are five typical Brazilian foods that will make you drool.

Feijoada

One of the most famous Brazilian dishes is Feijoada, which is known to be consumed in every part of the country. According to Rainforest Cruises, the dish is usually made of different cuts of pork, tomatoes, cabbages, and carrots.

It is traditionally slow-cooked with offal such as trotters and ears. It is typically served with fried kale with bacon bits, rice, farofa (a slice of toasted cassava flour), and a slice of orange.

Sometimes cachaca is also served to help with digestion. By tradition, Feijoada is eaten on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Brigadeiros

Brigadeiros are traditional Brazilian desserts known to be the most popular and most loved Brazilian sweet. The chocolate truffle made into balls includes condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter.

Condensed milk is condensed with cocoa powder and is then whisked in butter and shaped the mix into balls before rolling into sprinkles. Sometimes it is just left as a caramel-like sauce eaten with a spoon or used to dip fruits in.

Acarajé

Acarajé is considered to be the most famous street food in Bahia, the northeastern state of Brazil. The street food consists of peeled beans or black-eyed peas shaped into a ball, deep-friend in dende oil, and split into half.

According to Taste Atlas, it is stuffed with pastes made from ingredients such as cashews, palm oil, and shrimp. Acarajé is a representation of how African influences have been incorporated into Brazilian cuisine.

Moqueca

Moqueca is a stew with fish or other seafood mixed with diced tomatoes, onions, and coriander. Residents of Bahia and Capixabas both lay claim to the origins of the Brazilian dish, offering their own variations.

The Capixabas add annatto seeds for natural food coloring, while Baianos have their version of Moqueca heavier, with palm oil, peppers, and coconut milk.

BBC Good Food noted that the dish is served with rice, farofa, and pirao, which is a spicy fish porridge made with manioc flour. Sometimes a crusty bread is provided with the dish.

Caruru

Another Brazilian stew is Caruru. It is made of okra, dried shrimps, onions, and toasted nuts cooked in dende oil. It is traditionally consumed as a condiment with acarajé.

According to Taste Atlas, it is a Brazilian dish exported out of Africa by enslaved Africans who used to work on sugar plantations.

Caruru is the main meal served during the September celebrations honoring the twin saints of Bahian Afro-Catholic culture, Cosme and Damien.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Afro-Brazilian Street Food - GIANT FOOD TOUR + Boiling Moqueca + Acarajé in Salvador Bahia, Brazil - From Mark Wiens