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Moqueca and Farofa: Bringing the taste of Brazil home

Posted by: Posted date: May 10, 2011 In: Brazil | comment : 84

I never thought I’d be writing a recipe on my blog. But when I was visiting Bahia in Brazil last winter, I fell in love with one of their traditional dishes called moqueca de camarão. You’ll find this dish on almost every menu in Bahia and you absolutely cannot leave the region without trying it. Now, for those of you who have been to Brazil, I’m sure you quickly noticed how most of their dishes are accompanied with farofa. It doesn’t have much taste but being served a Brazilian dish without farofa is impossible. Brazil was one of those countries I visited that I fell in love with so I decided to bring it to my kitchen.

What’s moqueca de camarão? It’s a shrimp stew, with tomatoes and coconut milk as its main ingredients. What’s farofa? The direct translation is “crumbs” but it’s what we call wheatlets .  Here it goes!

salvadorbahiaguide.com

Ingredients for moqueca de camarão

1 or 1.5lbs of shrimp
1 can of coconut milk
4 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 red pepper, sliced (I cut up one pepper but you can cut more if you want)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
1 tablet of shrimp broth (but I only found fish broth so I used that instead)
Cilantro, salt, pepper to taste (You can also add cayenne pepper if you like spicy)
1 tablespoon of dendê oil (I replaced it with olive oil because that’s what I had)

1. Begin by washing your shrimp and soaking them in salt, 1/2 lemon juice, cilantro and coconut milk (1 can). Let it sit for 30 mins.

2. Sauté your peppers until they soften and then add the onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is transparent.

3. Then add your diced tomatoes and cook well. Add the shrimp cube. Cook until the sauce thickens.

4. Pour your shrimp mixture, dendê oil, salt and pepper. Let it simmer for about 10 mins or until your shrimps are cooked. (Shrimp will take longer to cook if they are not pre-cooked).

5. Add cilantro and remove from heat. Let it sit a few minutes before serving with farofa.

Ingredients for farofa:

Wheatlets (you can find it at the grocery store)
3 teaspoons of butter
Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in the pan at medium heat

2. Cook the farofa while constantly stirring.

3. The farofa will be cooked once it’s browned. Add salt and pepper.

Bon appetit! It’s such a tasty dish. Hope you enjoy it!

About The Author

Tanya is an adventurous person who most enjoys the cultural aspect of traveling. She traveled to North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa and Europe. When she's not hiking mountains, she spends her time visiting local schools or families. It's a nice break from the 9-5 corporate life.

Number of Entries : 243

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