Recipe: Bolinhos de Abóbora com Carne Seca

Bolinhos de feijoada from Aconchego Carioca

Did I ever tell you how much I love bolinhos? When I was first introduced to these little balls of joy, I assumed the word meant just that: little balls. In fact bolinho is the diminutive of bolo, the Portuguese word for cake, so really these are ‘little cakes’, but a better translation would be ‘fritter’ or ‘croquette’. Whatever you call them, bolinhos are hugely popular in Brazil. There are quite a few bars in Rio that owe pretty much all their popularity to their bolinhos.

The photo above shows bolinhos de feijoada from Aconchego Carioca. This is a bolinho version of Brazil’s best-loved dish, feijoada: black bean purée on the outside, shredded couve and bacon in the middle, all encased in a delightfully crispy shell. Along with a helping hand from Claude Troisgros, these bolinhos really put this restaurant on the map. Other bars and restaurants in Rio for bolinho lovers to visit include Bracarense in Leblon and Bar do Gomes in Santa Teresa:

The famous Bolinhos Mistos from Bar do Gomez. Two sets of 3 different bolinhos: Bolinhos de abóbora (pumpkin stuffed with carne seca), Bolinhos de feijão (black bean stuffed with carne seca), Bolinhos de feijão branco (white bean stuffed with bacon).

Those bolinhos from Bar do Gomez are probably my all time favourites. Over the years I have developed a particular love of the pumpkin variety – the soft sweetness of the pumpkin goes perfectly with the salty, slightly chewy carne seca stuffing. And so I’ve decided to make it my mission to recreate these delicious snacks at home. If you don’t live in Brazil and want to try this yourself, the only slightly tricky thing to find will be the carne seca – you’ll probably find it online if you search for “Brazilian carne seca” or “Brazilian Beef Jerky”. If all else fails you could try substituting pulled pork, corned beef or pastrami, or you could try making it yourself.

Bolinhos de Abóbora com Carne Seca (Pumpkin fritters stuffed with beef jerky)

Ingredients

Pumpkin Mixture

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 tbsp butter

2 chicken stock cubes

250 ml milk

200ml water

1/2 a medium sized Japanese pumpkin (kabocha) or just use approx 500g normal pumpkin

200g plain flour

Plenty of farinha de Rosco or breadcrumbs

Carne Seca Filling

1 tbsp butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, skinned, de-seeded and chopped

400g Carne Seca, soaked, cooked and shredded

75g requeijão or cream cheese

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves, finely chopped

Steps

• Start by making the pumpkin mixture. Cut open the pumpkin, peel, remove the seeds and chop into chunks. Simmer in salted water until the chunks are soft.

• Using either a sieve or a food processor, make the pumpkin into a smooth purée.
• In a separate saucepan, melt the butter and gently fry the crushed garlic for a minute. Add the stock cubes, milk and water and stir well.
• Mix in the pumpkin purée and then gradually add the flour, stirring well to avoid lumps. Once fully mixed, set aside in a dish or bowl to cool

The pumpkin mixture, cooling in a dish.

• Now to make the carne seca filling. Melt the butter in a saucepan and then gently fry the onion and garlic. Once they have softened, add the tomato and mix well.
• Once the tomato has broken down, add the shredded carne seca and the requeijão (or cream cheese) and mix really well.
• Remove from the heat and then mix in the chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves and allow to cool.

Creamy carne seca with onions, garlic and cilantro leaves. Not pretty, but pretty delicious.

• Now to assemble the bolinhos. Take a heaped teaspoon of the carne seca mixture and form it into a ball. Set aside on a plate and then repeat until all the carne seca is used up.

• Now take a good tablespoon of the pumpkin mixture and flatten it out on your hand. You may need to play around with the pumpkin mixture to get the right consistency. I needed to add quite a lot of farinha de rosco (breadcrumbs) to thicken up the mixture enough to stop it sticking to my fingers and make it workable. Try not to add too much, otherwise it will become dry and boring.
• Form the pumpkin mixture into a cup shape and then put one of the carne seca balls inside. Now add more pumpkin and close out the gaps until you have fully enclosed the carne seca.

• At this point your bolinho probably looks quite messy and misshapen, so rest it between the palms of your hands and roll it around until you have a nice smooth ball.

• Now drop the ball into a bowl of breadcrumbs and roll it around until it is completely covered. When I did this the bolinhos were wet enough that they picked up the breadcrumbs on their own, but if you have dry balls (!) then you can roll them in beaten egg first.

One bolinho de abóbora, waiting for its breadcrumb coating.

• The bolinhos are now ready for deep frying (at 175°C) until golden. Alternatively you can experiment with chilling or even partially freezing the bolinhos in the freezer first. I’ve heard that this can help create a nice crispy shell, but mine came out pretty nicely without.

• Drain on paper towels and then serve with ice cold beer, HP Sauce and (optional) a token salad.

The salad is entirely optional, but made me feel a bit better about eating my second bolinho.