Brazilian recipe
How to make Feijoada
Eaten all over Brazil, traditionally for Saturday lunch. Often called the national dish
A slow-cooked stew of black beans with smoked sausage, pork and dried or salted meats. It is served with white rice, farofa, collard greens and slices of orange.
Ingredients
- 500 g dried black beans, soaked in cold water overnight
- 300 g smoked pork sausage (linguiça or another smoked sausage), sliced
- 400 g pork ribs or pork shoulder, cut into large pieces
- 150 g smoked bacon, diced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Salt and black pepper
- White rice, farofa, sautéed collard greens and orange slices, to serve
Method
- Drain the soaked beans, put them in a large pot with the bay leaves and cover with fresh water by about 5 cm. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, brown the bacon in the oil in a frying pan. Add the pork pieces and the sausage and brown them on all sides.
- Add the onion and garlic to the meat and cook for 5 minutes, until soft.
- Stir the meat, onion and garlic into the beans. Simmer for another 1.5 to 2 hours, stirring now and then and adding hot water if the stew gets too thick, until the beans are very soft and the pork is tender.
- Mash a ladle of beans against the side of the pot to thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and serve with rice, farofa, greens and orange slices.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Bean and pork stews called feijoada are also cooked in Portugal and in other Portuguese-speaking countries. How the Brazilian version began is still debated by food historians.
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