Feijoada is a very popular dish in all Portuguese-speaking countries. It is eaten from Macao to Brazil and it is in the latter where it reaches the rank of national dish. However, the origin is Portugal, probably some pork stew that was enriched in Brazil with the addition of beans, typical of the American continent.
The most basic feijoada consists of salted pork (or that is salted the night before) with stewed beans and a sausage called chorizo. You can also find some vegetables such as cabbage leaves. In Brazil the most used beans are black, while in Portugal they are white or red. Many ingredients are variable, depending on their availability. Some recipes include pork ear, snout, mask etc while others only use bacon and ribs.
INGREDIENTS (4 people)
- 250 grams (9 oz) of dried red beans
- 200 grams (7 oz) of meaty pork ribs cut
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) of pancetta or bacon
- 3 red ripe tomatoes
- 1 chorizo for stewing (sweet)
- 1 pig's ear (optional)
- 1 cabbage
- 1 large red onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt
- ground black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
First of all, the day before, we must soak the beans, and must remain overnight in it.
In a bowl we put the ribs, the ears in pieces (if we want to use it, of course) and the bacon and sprinkle them with coarse salt, also keeping it overnight in this way (in the fridge, of course). It must be coarse salt, in flakes, because if you do it with common salt it will penetrate the meat and it will become so salty that it will be inedible. When you go to cook, shake off the scales and the meat will have taken the salt it needs, not a gram more, being seasoned but not salty.
The next day, cook the beans in plenty of water with a splash of oil and the bay leaf. When the beans are soft, remove them from the heat. Reserve.
We shake off the excess salt, pass the meat through the tap and cook it in another pan with water accompanied by the sweet chorizo in pieces. When the meat is done we take it out and reserve it. The ear takes a long time to cook. They sell it cooked in certain establishments, but if you want to save time and only have it raw, you better not use it.
In another pan with a little salt, boil the cabbage leaves so they are cooked but not too soft. Once we finish cooking them - a few minutes - we take them out and put them in very cold water.
Now we are going to cook the feijoada itself.
Chop the garlic without the green germ. We also chop the onion. Let's pour both into a deep frying pan or casserole with a generous splash of olive oil. Peel and remove the seeds from the tomatoes, chopping them very fine. Poach these vegetables until the onion is transparent.
Then we add the meat and the chorizo, the beans and a little of the meat cooking broth. Let cook for about 15 minutes over medium heat. Two minutes before the end we add the cabbage leaves, season with salt and pepper and ready to serve, usually with white rice. It does not usually have a lot of broth, so it is better to let it reduce because a little more cooking does not affect the final flavor.
A magnificent stew. When you try it you will immediately understand why it is loved in Macao, Angola, Mozambique, Portugal and Brazil.