A Tapioquinha for brunch
Mrs Eat Rio and I are off to São Paulo this weekend to enjoy the culinary delights that Brazil’s largest city has to offer. Sadly the Eat Rio budget won’t stretch to D.O.M. this time, but our greedy stomachs are quivering in anticipation of a visit to the highly rated Mocotó. Speaking of food, I’ve been playing about in the kitchen myself recently and I thought I’d share my results.
For a while now I’ve been making myself a delicious tapioca for breakfast – it’s a pretty simple operation that involves dry-frying a layer of slightly damp tapioca starch until it fuses. Then you simply add your topping of choice (I like cheese!), flip it and a few moments later it’s ready to eat.
Much as I love this traditional style tapioca, last weekend I felt like trying something new as a little brunch treat. I started off by mixing chunks of avocado and tomato with fresh coriander (coentro/cilantro), a squeeze of lime juice and a dash of lovely Sriracha chilli sauce (top picture).
Next I made some mini-tapiocas (tapioquinhas), flipped them once and topped them with a layer of cheddar cheese (real cheddar, from England!).
Once the cheese had melted, I topped my tapioquinhas with the avocado and tomato mix.
Although this didn’t take too long, it took longer than my normal breakfast routine and I was pretty excited about eating it, but I had one more embellishment. A delicious little fried quail’s egg!
It took considerably less time to eat than it did to make, but I really enjoyed it. I’m not convinced this is the finished article though – perhaps a meaty version (replacing the avocado and tomato) might work better? Any thoughts on how we could improve this? Has anyone else tried playing around with the Brazilian classics?
Mocotó is awesome! Just get there early, there’s always a line. Been there 3 times. I love the beijú with carne de sol and the crazy amazing caipirinhas. Aproveite!
Ah brilliant! Thanks for the extra recommendation Barrianne – now I’m really looking forward to it! :D
You just had to rub it in our faces that your cheddar supply from a recent trip to England is still plentiful. Speaking of England friends of yours?
Oh man! I had to stop around the 5 minute mark – that stuff makes me feel a bit sick :-/ There are some crazy people out there!
Yum! I love tapioca (first had it in Manaus when I was 5 mos preg and that started my cravings for it) but my maid always told me it needed to be soaked or handled well in advance, not a fast dish. I like the savory ones (quiejo coahlho) and the one you just posted looks delish! No meat needed!! keep it light, just like you did. YUM. Parabens!
Hi Stephanie – I had my first Tapioca in trying circumstances (after 3 hours of waiting for my carteira de trabalho) and decided that I didn’t like them. It took me another 6 months before I had another and then realised they were delicious! I definitely prefer the savoury ones too. Glad you like the look of my concoction :D