What to do with: Jiló

When we were kids, my sister and I would look forward to Christmas for months. When the first of December finally came around we would be besides ourselves with excitement as the time came for us to open the first window on our advent calendars.

When the big day (25th December) finally came and all our family traditions were in full flow, we were supercharged with excitement. Decorations, presents, food – all things to push a small child to near-hyperactive levels of happiness. Everything was great… except for the one Christmas tradition that filled us with dread.

Brussels Sprouts

Yeauch! Every year we would protest and every year they would form part of the Christmas meal. The bitter, cabbagey flavour seemed almost bizarrely disgusting – why would our otherwise loving parents make us eat these awful green nuggets of noxious vegetable matter?

Mercifully, Brazilian children are spared the trauma of Brussels sprouts, but instead they are tormented by another green scourge.

The dreaded Jiló!

Jiló are bright green and about the size of a large egg. Cut them open and they have the pale green flesh with the texture of eggplant/aubergine, cut through with lines of soft seeds. So why all the fear and fuss?

Well, the default preparation method for jiló is to quarter them and boil/steam until tender. The end result? Grey-green chunks of bitterness that make the taste of eggplant/aubergine seem like Angel Delight.

Having tried jiló this way a few times, I have to say that Brazilian kids have my sympathy. But there must be a way to make jiló less objectionable, right? In fact I know of not one but three ways and today I’ll tell you about the simplest.

Jiló à Milanesa

Ingredients

• Jiló
• Vinegar
• Eggs
• Plain flour
• Cornmeal (Polenta, Farinha de fubá)
• Vegetable oil for frying

Wash the jiló well and then slice them fairly thinly (5mm).

Now to deal with that famed bitterness! Sprinkle the slices with salt and leave them for 30 minutes. This will draw out some of the bitterness. Now rinse the slices and dry them on kitchen towels. Finally, drizzle a little vinegar (white wine vinegar is good) over the slices and give them 5-10 minutes to soak it up.

Put a layer of plain flour in a bowl and season it generously with salt and pepper. Break an egg into another bowl and beat it to mix. In a third bowl, put a good layer of cornmeal.

One by one, put the slices of jiló into the flour, then the egg and finally the cornmeal. At each stage, make sure the slice is well coated.

Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a pan over a medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the jiló slices and fry until golden brown on both sides.

While the finished product may not look amazing, they taste great! During the cooking process, the flesh of the jiló softens and becomes deliciously gooey. Put a plate of these in front of a group of people drinking beer and they will disappear in no time (the slices of jiló, not the people!).

Jiló à Milanesa – not bitter. Delicious with an ice cold beer.

When looking over this recipe, Mrs Eat Rio remarked (rather cynically I thought) that “everything tastes good if you milanesa it”. Well that may be true but that doesn’t stop this being a tasty beer snack, does it?!

Anyone wondering what the other 2 ways of making Jiló delicious are? The first is “Lasagne de jiló” (which you can find on the menu of my Laranjeiras favourite, Botero) and the second is “Soufflé de Jiló” which I will be attempting soon!

I’m in London right now, back to wish my lovely sister happy birthday, so things may be a little quiet for the next few days. But I’ll be back next week to pick up where I left off!