Eat the Amazon

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[2024: I’m slowly going through the old blog posts and removing links to things that no longer exist – not sure if I’m said about so many things closing, or proud that Eat Rio has outlasted them! Anway, in posts like this, almost everything has ceased to exist, so non-functioning links have been deactivated – click them all you like, they won’t take you anywhere!]

A little while back someone contacted me through my blog and asked if I’d be interested in doing a little writing work. “What kind of writing work?” I asked suspiciously. Oh, it would involve you having to recommend and review restaurants around Rio, they replied. “Hmmm” I said (in my best suspicious voice), “I’ll think about it…”.

Anyone who knows me will know that I love food. I love eating it, I love cooking it, I love discovering new ingredients, new dishes and new styles of cooking. So the thought of getting to pretend that I’m a food critic, swanning around Rio and (hopefully) getting special treatment from deferential waiters and managers was way too tempting!

Now, several months later, my first ‘proper’ writing assignment has been released! May I present: Flavors of the Amazon: 

Hmmm, there seems to be a typo there – surely that should be FlavoUrs of the Amazon? Ho ho, just my little (British) joke.

 

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Moqueca Capixaba: world’s best fish dish?

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I’m going to do something a little different today – a guest post. My guest is Shaun from the blog Sometime Brazilian. Shaun has lived in Brazil twice and (like me!) is married to a brasileira. Shaun is also a great inspiration as he shows that it’s possible to write an interesting, informative blog about Brazil whilst not actually being in the country. 

After my claim yesterday that St Pancras is the world’s most wonderful train station, today Shaun is going to put forward the case for Moqueca Capixaba being the world’s best fish dish (now that’s some claim!). I’ve only tried the other version of Moqueca (the one of Bahia) and I’m a huge fan, so this had better be good! There’ll be more from me soon, but for now, enjoy Shaun’s wise words and sumptuous photos

TL

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Without a doubt, one of the things that makes Brazil special is its food. Boiled rice and beans are served with almost every dish. But Brazil’s boiled rice is anything but plain; it is prepared in such a way (fried first with rock salt and garlic) that it is bursting with flavour.
And for fish lovers like me, Moqueca Capixaba (pronounced mokeka capishaba), is one of the tastiest dishes you can find anywhere in the world. Brazilians have been making moquecas for hundreds of years, but capixaba, meaning people from the coastal state of Espirito Santo, where the dish originates, is made with varieties of fish.

Vivid red, green, and orange colours of Moqueca Capixaba

Hungry? Eat a knee!

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If you ever find yourself feeling a little peckish in Rio, there is a whole range of delicious lanches (snacks) to choose from – ultra cheesy pão de queijo, juicy chickeny coxinha, salty crispy bolinhos de bacalhau to name a few of my favourites (ooh, how could I forget bolinhos de aipim?).

But one I haven’t mentioned until now is the joelho (sounds like ZHWELL-yo). Now then, if you go to Google Translate you’ll find that joelho is the Portuguese word for knee. Strange name for a snack you might think. But take a look:

 

Cheese and ham with savoury pastry folded around the outside. They do look a bit ‘knee-ish’ don’t they?

 

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A mystery vegetable and some great translations

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Hello from freezy London. I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to hear that I had a reasonable flight and am now safely ensconced in a cosy room with a cosy radiator. The temperature has dipped to 2°C (36°F) – a temperature I haven’t had to endure since Patagonia back in 2009.

I don’t really have a lot else to say about being in London yet, so instead I’m going to continue on from my last post about the wonderful Hortifruti. First off, a mystery vegetable I spotted on my last shopping trip – can someone tell me what these are?

 

Any ideas what these are? What do you do with them?

 

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Hortifruti – great store, brilliant adverts!

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Sooooo, today is my last full day in Brazil for 2 months. Such mixed feelings – it’s going to be great to see my family and friends, start my new job, eat proper cheese and drink proper beer again (in that order). But I’m leaving Brazil! For 2 months! There are so many things I’ll miss that I’m trying not to think about it too much right now. Instead I’m throwing myself into last minute preparations

One of the things I need to do is harvest my beloved chillis and turn them into hot chilli sauce! This time round I’m going for a genuine Trinidadian hot pepper sauce recipe and I’m also going to experiment with a chilli infused oil in the style found in many of Rio’s snack bars and Pé Sujos.

Yesterday, in preparation for all this peppery-cookery, I took a trip over to my favourite food shop in Rio – Hortifruti.

If you can afford it, this place is great. I love it!

 

Hortifruti (sounds like ORtchee-FROOtchee) was such a revelation to me the first time wandered in. The displays of fruit and vegetables are amazing – it’s like they have some kind of beauty contest for fresh produce and only the really sexy ones get through.

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