Do try this at home

One of the major changes in my life since moving to Rio back in 2010 has been a slow-down in my social life. I know everyone assumes that life in Rio is one long party in which we share our time equally between the beach and various bars and clubs, occasionally stopping to refill our caipirinhas or play some beach volleyball, but reality is somewhat different.

Moving to a new city presents quite a few challenges and when you don’t speak the language, those challenges are amplified. But I’m not complaining – it was probably about time that my social life calmed down a bit! And when you aren’t spending so much time socialising in bars (or being hungover the next day), you have more time for other things, like writing, photography, learning a new language. You know, all those things you’ve been meaning to do for years but were always too busy for.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most during my enforced social hiatus, has been learning about Brazilian food (did I mention that I’ve written an Amazonian food tour app for the iPhone? ;) ). In general, I wouldn’t describe Brazilian food as sophisticated. That’s not to take anything away from it (I think it’s delicious) I just mean that there is an uncomplicated goodness that belies its country roots.

And what could exemplify that uncomplicated goodness better than pão de quejio?

For those who don’t know, pão de queijo (sounds like: pown de KAY-zho) is pretty much the cheesiest bread you’ll ever experience. They’re like chewy, springy, very cheesy dough-balls.

Well last weekend, after 6 weeks away from Brazil, it all became too much for me. I had to have some pão de queijo and that meant I had to make some. There’s only one tricky ingredient, and luckily for me I’d brought some back with me from Brazil.

Polvilho Azedo - this is starch from the cassava (manioc) root. Don't make the mistake I once did by confusing this with cassava *flour* - the results are deeply disappointing. Can you imagine taking this through customs? Half a kilo of white powder... I'm glad they didn't stop me.

If you can track down some Polvilho Azedo (I just found this place that has it for people in the UK!), the rest is easy. I got this recipe from a brilliant Brazilian food blog called Come-se (its author, Neide Rigo, really knows her stuff).

Recipes with quantities in cups do my head in, so I’m going to convert to millilitres:

===========================

Mix 120 ml of milk with 120 ml of water in a pan. Add 1.5 teaspoons of salt and 60 ml vegetable oil and heat until boiling. Put 250 grams of Polvilho Azedo in a bowl and then pour over the hot milk and stir really well. Once it has cooled a little, mix together 2 medium eggs and then mix them into the flour and milk mixture.

I like to get everything ready before I start. Then I can pretend I'm on TV and do a running commentary as I go...

Now grate 200g of cheese (in Brazil we use Queijo Minas Padrão, but if you don’t live in Brazil then improvise – I used a 70-30 blend of rubbery (cheap) Mozzarella and Parmesan). Mix the cheese into the flour mixture. Make sure everything is really well mixed and then cover and leave it in the fridge for as long as you can be bothered to wait (I cracked after 45 minutes, though they say you get even better results if you leave it overnight – personally I think life is too short for that kind of waiting).

It looks a bit like rice pudding at this stage doesn't it? I always get a bit worried at this point, but have faith, things will turn out OK (probably).

OK, so now you need to heat the oven to 230ºC (does anyone still use Fahrenheit? It’s 450ºF).

Saudades do Rio. I was hoping that a little pão de queijo would stop me feeling homesick.

Form your mixture into golf balls, plop them onto a baking tray and put that in the oven for around 30 minutes. They will puff up and start looking yummy. When they are golden, take them out and eat!

They're ready! Sure, they're not clever or complicated, but occasionally don't you just want something simple and delicious?

===========================

Pretty easy right? And totally worth it – last weekend my Mum and I ate most of these right there and then in the kitchen. We had the remainder for breakfast the next day (we re-heated them in the oven and then cut them open to make little pac-men pac-people and then filled them with ham and hummus – a little unconventional I know, but yummy nevertheless).

If you can’t be bothered with that then you could just buy them. My friend Monika Batista actually sells them in the US under the brand name Mãní Pão de Queijo. We’ve been kind of pen-pals for a little while, but I’m very excited to say that she’s coming to Rio soon so we’ll finally get to meet! And she’s promised that she’ll be bringing PDQ! Yay!

Cool logo right?