Country 24 - Brazil

The Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest Country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country and fifth most populated country. It is also one of the the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations.
The Atlantic Ocean is on Brazil's east coast and it also borders every other South American country other than Chile and Ecuador. 
Brazil was inhabited by many tribal nations before 1500 when it became part of the Portuguese empire. It gained its independence in 1822. 

Brazil's culture is influenced mainly by Portugal but also from Africa, it's Indigenous peoples and other european nations. The food varies greatly depending on the region reflecting the Indigenous and immigrant population of each area. Feijoada is considered the national dish with a typical meal consisting of rice, beans and meat.

For our visit to Brazil we made feijoada, couve-a-mineira and brigadeiro washed down with our version of caipirinha.

The feijoada went on first as it need to cook for several hours. It is very meat heavy so we left out the pork shoulder because you can have too much meat! We were able to track down some ok-ish chorizo in our local supermarket and we used ribs that were very meaty to make up for the lack of pork shoulder. We also used tinned black beans so we did not have to buy a huge bag of dried ones.

Meat and beans being added to the onion, garlic and chilli.

Simmering for a few hours.

The liquid has reduced and the dish is ready to be tasted.

The collard greens finely chopped and sauteed with shallot, garlic butter and olive oil.

We don't usually make desserts but this recipe sounded interesting. 
As I cooked the condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder I was reminded of a friend I shared a flat with at university. She used to make her version of banoffee pie by boiling a tin of condensed milk for a while then opening it and dunking a banana into the resulting goo! 😆

The milk, butter and cocoa powder were boiled for 10 minutes - it smelt good!

It was then left to cool for 2 hours before being formed into small balls and rolled in ground almonds or dessicated coconuts. (Our bag of coconut has an expiry date of 2015, it was unopened!!! Used it anyway! 😅

All ready to be eaten!

 The national drink of Brazil is Caipirinha. It is made using a Brazilian rum which is made from cane sugar rather than molasses called cachaça. We were unable to find Brazilian rum but we tracked down some from the Dominican Republic which is also made from cane sugar. 

So each cocktail is made from 1/2 a lime cut into small piece, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 ounces of rum, and we added lots of ice too! HIC!

Our final dish.

and for dessert!

The Verdict

It was ok. Gary really liked it. I really don't like black beans so I guess I had already made my mind up before hand maybe. The meat was really tender and tasty and the cabbage was good - we make similar recipe using kale. The chocolate truffles were firm and chewy, not like regular truffles at all. They were lovely with a strong cup of tea! 

A good learning experience but nothing we will make again - not what we were expecting from Brazil at all.

I nearly forgot to mention the Caipirinha! It was very good, we tried it with less sugar but it needed the sweetness. Did I mention it was good? In fact I'm slightly surprised I didn't wake up with a headache! Very good - like a mojito but without the mint, mmmmmm delicious!

Country 23 - Botswana

The landlocked country of the Republic of Botswana is in Southern Africa. It became independent from Britain in 1966 and is the oldest Republic in Africa.                      Botswana is a very flat country with 70% of it being the Kalahari desert. It is bordered by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It also has a 100 metre border with Zambia!

Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world with a population of only 2 million. Ten percent of the population live in the capital city, Gaborone. Although Botswana used to be one of the world's poorest countries it now has one of the fastest growing economies, being dominated by mining, cattle and tourism.

The official language is English although Setswana is widely spoken. Setswana is also the word used to describe the rich culture of the area.

The cuisine of Botswana is similar to that of South Africa. Examples of  the food are pap (maize porridge), boerewors ( a type of sausage) and mopane worms!!!!! 😂

      

  

Unfortunately we couldn't source any mopane worms locally so we couldn't make this dish! 

Well it is over a year since we last travelled around the world trying new recipes from various countries. We actually bought meat to cook Botswanan food a few months back and then chickened out! It just didn't appeal to us. But yesterday we decided we would just go for it and hope for the best!

Eventually we decided to make Seswaa, Pap and Morogo.

Gary did most of the cooking for the Seswaa. It should be cooked over an open fire in a three legged metal pot. It was minus 18 and snowing outside and we didn't have a three legged pot so we used the slow cooker - similar! The ingredients are: beef with a bone in; an onion; bayleaves; water and salt and pepper. It all goes into the pot together to cook for a long time.

After being in the slow cooker all day.

The juices have to be reduced so we did this on the stove.

The meat has fallen apart and is ready to be eaten.

Seriously 'Pap" has got to be the most unappetizing sounding food. 
It's meant to be made from white cornmeal but we could only find yellow. Apparently white has a more roasted flavour and is cooked slightly differently. 

So the recipe calls for cornmeal and vegetable stock. You bring the stock to the boil and whisk the cornmeal in slowly and then simmer for 20 minutes until it is cooked. 
Well! As soon as the cornmeal hit the water it thickened up and bubbled so much - even on the lowest heat setting - that it was spitting out boiling hot bits that burnt my hand. So I took it off the heat and put the lid on the pan to keep warm for 20 minutes instead.

Yellow cornmeal - pretend it's white!

So gloopy cooked pap ready to start erupting over the cooker and my hand!

Finally the Morogo. This should have been made from wild African spinach leaves but they didn't have them in the local supermarket so we just bought baby leaves. the recipe also included onion, tomatoes, red and green pepper, allspice, ginger and chilli flakes. Everything except the spinach went in the post with some vegetable stock.

Once the firmer vegetables were well and truly stewed
we added the spinach for 5 minutes.

Our local liquor store didn't have any Botwanan/South African beer so we had to make do with a rather nice South African red wine. 

The finished meal.

The Verdict.

After over a year of procrastinating ....... it was actually quite good. The vegetables were really tasty if a bit overcooked for our usual tastes. The stew was lovely - some mushrooms would have added to it but I guess that wouldn't have been traditional. The pap tasted a bit like polenta, a bit gloopy but great with the meat. 

So we are very glad that we have embarked on our World Food Adventure once again! 😀