FAROFA BRASILEIRA

Posted in Brazilian cooking, Side dishes by

farofa
Many of the classic recipes of Brazilian cooking have a counterpart  in other cuisines, be it French, Italian, or American. For instance, feijoada,  the  famous Brazilian concoction,  could be described as a type of cassoulet using different kinds of meat, and black beans instead of the French Tarbais.  Other dishes are a bit hard to “explain” for those who are not familiar with it.  Farofa is one perfect example.  The closest culinary item that I can use to describe farofa would be the toasted rice powder used on larb.  It’s about texture.   Just like Bolognese sauce and chili, each Brazilian family will swear by their recipe.  I will give you my own family version, the one that Phil fell in love with the first time he’s tried it.

FAROFA BRASILEIRA
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

4 strips of bacon, center-cut, diced
2 Tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups manioc flour (see comments)
salt and pepper to taste
3 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely diced
parsley leaves, minced

Cook the bacon on low heat on a large, non-stick skillet. No need to add any oil, the bacon will release its own fat.  Once the fat starts to accumulate in the pan, increase the heat slightly and allow the bacon to get some color.  Add the butter and the diced onion, cook over medium-heat stirring often until the onion gets light golden. Add the garlic, cook for a minute, then dump all the manioc flour.  Season with salt and black pepper, and keep stirring until the flour starts to get toasted.  Make sure to stir the flour from the top to the bottom of the pan, so that the whole amount gets cooked.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the hard-boiled eggs and the parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature, preferably over a nice helping of white rice and beans.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

served1
Comments: If you want to make this Brazilian delicacy, it’s absolutely essential to find the right type of manioc flour.  It is NOT the fine powder used to bake items such as Brazilian cheese bread.  The manioc flour used for farofa is coarse, and sold in two different forms: white and toasted.  You can use either one for this recipe. If you start with the toasted flour your farofa will have a slight more intense flavor. To order some online, click here.  I really like Yoki brand, you can get “cruda/crua” (white) or “torrada” (toasted).  For a delicious farofa variation that includes corn, visit Angela’s blog (in Portuguese). I intend to make her recipe soon.

Farofa is best enjoyed over black beans and rice, or a nice moqueca.  Anything with a spicy sauce only gets better with a nice coating of farofa.  But, I must say that once you get hooked on it, you will find yourself reaching for the bowl with a spoon and enjoying it all by itself.  Gotta tell a little story here.  My Dad was the utmost farofa-lover.  He developed a very interesting skill to enjoy it, in which he grabbed a fork, balanced a big load of farofa on it, then launched it up in the air, catching it all with his mouth! Believe it or not, not a single crumb would fall on the floor…  It’s really too bad in those days cell phones with camera did not exist or he could have been be a super-star on youtube.  It’s ok, though.  He was and will always be a super-star for me.

ONE  YEAR AGO: Thai-Inspired Pork Tenderloin

TWO YEARS AGO: A yummy Brazilian cake: Bolo de Fuba’

THREE YEARS AGO:  Summer’s Tomatoes

FOUR YEARS AGO: Leaving on a jet plane… 

50 thoughts on “FAROFA BRASILEIRA”

  1. I love this post and the story about your superstar Dad! Funny how the stories come to mean almost more than the recipes or maybe they are all intertwined, food, family, love, memory and that is what interests me most at my age. I saw a wonderful photo project that someone did not so long ago when they photographed grandmothers round the world with their favourite dish that they made. And just read the most interesting post about a sweet made from reed mace grown in the Iraqi marshes and was just so interested. I don’t think I have ever eaten Brazilian food per se, there must be a Brazilian restaurant in London, but none here. So your blog is the closest I will get to it I guess 🙂

    I am going to ask in the shop that has the biggest selection of (to me) exotic and exciting flours and grains from round the world next time I am on the other side of the city and see if they have manioc flour, better take your notes and recipe with me. xx Jo

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  3. When we visited friends in Brazil, we went to the home of a woman who makes farofa for the entire village. She took us into the backyard, where she makes the farofa from beginning to end. It was fascinating, and gave me a new appreciation for the work that goes into making this simple staple.

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    • I guess what you witnessed was the making of the flour starting from the manioc (cassava) root – that is a very impressive job, and I’ve seen it done on TV, never in person. Cool that you had a chance to see it… I am a little jealous, can you tell? 😉

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  6. Sally: Que vontade de meter o meu garfo nesse prato de farofa de ovos com bacon. Adoro uma farofinha. Minha mãe costuma fazer a dela com passas, cenoura ralada e bananas picada. Uma delícia também! É verdade…cada família tem a sua receita.

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  7. This is definitely something new to me Sally. Thank you for sharing it.
    Loved the story about your dad, looking at the texture of the farofa throwing it in the air and catching it all sounds hard!
    I have to say though,the last line your last line is extra sweet 🙂 there is nothing like the relationship between a girl and her dad

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  8. I’m not familiar with Brasilian dishes but I think I’d like to start with the cheese bread, which I’ve heard of, before the farofa because I can eat the bread straight while I’d have to make something else to serve the farofa with. So I’m only committed to ONE recipe. 🙂

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    • Cannot think about farofa without thinking of my Dad – which is a good, albeit bittersweet thing…

      Hope you can try this, Celia, make sure you have a side dish with enough “sauce” to pair with

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  12. You make the same recipe as my husband. One of my favorite farofa recipes. I love the bacon and eggs…so YUMMY! Definitely one of my favorite Brazilian foods. My husband was not convinced that I would like it at first, but to his surprise I fell in love with it.

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    • It is funny how every Brazilian goes through a “speech” before offering farofa to a foreigner for the first time – we always say “You might not like it at first,… it’s a little “strange”….. but they always love it! 😉

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  13. Just when I think I”m getting a handle on all of the world’s cuisines, here comes a new dish unlike any other. To say farofa is new to me is an understatement, Sally, but I love a challenge. If I can find manioc flour, I’m going to give this a try. Thanks for today’s lesson. 😉

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    • There’s a lot more to learn as far as Brazilian cuisine goes, I should really cook some of the classics and blog about them. However, some are a bit intimidating if you have to make them just with a recipe – acaraje’ comes to mind, but I should really go for it sometime… Have you heard of acaraje’, John?

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  16. What an interesting dish and one that I’ve never heard of. I so wish I could access that unique flour. Do you know where one can find it? I also loved hearing that story about your dad. That is what makes these dishes so special…the memories that go along with the flavor.

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  18. Perhaps we should revisit cooking Brazilian recipes. It’s been quite a while. I’m having a hard time imagining what this must taste like-even more reason to try! 🙂

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  21. Pingback: Farofa | A Taste of Brazil

  22. Farofa recipe looks fabulous. But I can’t use fine manioc flour. Where in the Seattle, WA area can I buy the coarse variety?

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    • Hello there! I wish I could help you out, but I have no idea if this is sold in Seattle… I know they have a fantastic market in there, maybe you could see if some vendor is familiar with sources for South American products? If not, you can always get them online, which I normally have to resort to myself..

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      • Thank you. I have ordered it on line. This is a great area for lutefisk and similar delights(?) but not for Brazilian food. We are going to try to make feijoada. First, we will make our own carne seca. We like to experiment with foreign cuisine. Our cheese bread is delicious.

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          • Hi, sallybr, We have a piece of beef buried in salt. It should be carne seca in less than two weeks. We’ll let you know how it turned out. Stan and Gretchen.

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            • Hi, Sally. As we promised 2 weeks ago to let you know about the carne seca. This is the easiest part of making feijoada. When the carne seca was ready for use, it was rather salty and very tough. But when it was cooked with the other ingredients, they absorbed most of the salt. The meat in the feijoada was quite tender and flavorful. If you’d like to see the carne seca recipe, you can find it on

              http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=163&t=1282740

              Stan and Gretchen

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    • Michael, that is a very tricky question…. usually, when we make farofa in Brazil, we have the idea of keeping some for leftovers because it keeps well – some people even keep it at room temperature for a day or so (I am not part of that team…) – a Brazilian person will eat a lot more farofa especially if you have some beans to soak it up. So, it’s hard to tell. I’d say it makes 4 yo 6 servings, but maybe even more. Some people prefer to have just a very light sprinkle over the rice, for instance…

      it is truly very hard to judge exact servings, but once you make it and get your preferences established, you will have a better “feel” for it.

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  24. Pingback: Brazilian farofa by Saskia Ghirotti ! – South Market VA

  25. Pingback: A Guide to Grain-Free Flours and Starches | Hello Glow

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