feijoada

/fey-JWAH-duh/
[Portuguese]

A rich, filling, and comforting stew of black beans (feijão), dried beef, smoked pork, chouriço, a sausage deeply flavored with smokey paprika and much garlic, feijoada also contains beef tongue, pig’s ears, feet, and tail and is seasoned with onions, tomatoes, garlic, chilis, and herbs, served with rice, and is typically garnished with slices of orange. In Brazil feijoada is served with farofa, a finely ground meal of dried cassava which is toasted with a little palm oil and sprinkled atop the beans and rice.  Feijoada is a national dish of Brazil and traditionally served with stewed greens, such as spinach, kale, or collard, to accompany.   As the dish closely resembles the classic Portuguese pork and bean stew, cozido, is made of the black beans indigenous to Brazil, and was a staple of the enslaved Africans brought to labor in colonial Brazil, Feijoada bears the mark of three cultural groups, Portuguese, African, and Native South American.


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