I am so happy to announce that I have joined the fabulous team of bloggers who bring you “Around the World in 12 Dishes,” a culinary journey that chooses a different country each month. This month we are making Brazilian Feijoada (meaty black bean stew)! Some other very kid-friendly Brazilian recipes are pão de queijo (cheesey bread), or brigadeiros (amazing chocolate candy).
Brazil is a fascinating country- the largest in Latin America and one of the few countries that does not speak Spanish. In my humble opinion, Portuguese is one of the most beautiful languages in the world- have a listen here. Brazil is such a diverse country in many ways: whether we are talking about ethnicities, biodiversity, climate, traditions, or geography. Here are 3 of my favorite resources for kids to learn about Brazil.
Typical ingredients in Brazilian recipes include all kinds of meat, beans and rice (my kids absolute, all-time favorite), mandioca (also called cassava, yuca), lots of different cheeses, and tropical fruits. We asked some Brazilian friends what we should feature, and the astoundingly unified answer was FEIJOADA! I roughly followed this recipe, though everyone uses different meats. In our dish we used a couple of beef ribs, smoked pork chops, bacon, and a smoke local sausage (I told you this was heavy on the meat!). First the kids sorted the beans (always look for little pebbles/dirt!) and soaked them the night before.
The next day, cook the beans for about 2.5 hours on low. Be careful they don’t spill over! I make black beans at least once a week, and inevitably the balanced cover letting the steam escape slips and covers the pot completely, and the water spills over. Every. Single. Time. 🙂
Once the beans are made, let them sit on the stove covered and have the kids cut up an onion, some garlic, and your meat. You can either pan fry the meat with the onions and garlic (we did with the bacon), or let it cook in the beans (as we did with the ribs, sausage, and pork chops). Add a bay leaf and some salt, and let the feijoada simmer for another half an hour! Near the end of cooking we added green onions and chopped cilantro. We served ours over rice, with a simple salsa of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, olive oil, and lime. It was DELICIOUS!!!!
And now…….WELCOME to “Around The World in 12 Dishes.” We will be taking you on a journey around the world, (loosely) following in Phileas Fogg‘s footsteps, exploring 12 different countries with our children, by cooking 12 dishes with them. One for each country visited… bringing it to life through food! Taste and smell don’t often get explored, we think this would be wonderfully fun and interesting for you and your children. Not only is it an exciting and different way to learn about cultures, but cooking with children brings a host of benefits – from numeracy to science. How can you beat that?
How to join the fun!
- The only mandatory part is the dish, the rest is all up to you, we just thought it would be fun and more concrete to the kids as to why we are making a unusual dish.
- Cook a dish from Brazil: The goal is to explore this country through FOOD and activities if you wish. Make a typical dish (sweet or savory) from the country with the kids, take photos, and have fun!
- Typical Brazilian recipes: Feijoada, Baião de dois, Sarapatel, Galinhadaplus Queijadinha, Moqueca de peixe and Bridgardeiros.
- Print your passport: Click here to download, comes with space for a photo of the child with the dish. Here is a little cover for it if you wish 🙂
- Color a placemat: Once colored/painted or whatever other way you want to do this, you can laminate it or put it between clear contact paper to use it over and over. Great conversation piece for you and your kids. Click here to download it.
- Make a craft: you can make a country related craft with the kids
- Fun fact: Brazil has one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, the Christ Redeemer statue, located in Rio De Janeiro.
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Please check out our partner blogs and their Brazilian recipes: Adventures In Mommydom, Creative Family Fun, Domestic Goddesque, Glittering Muffins, Here Come The Girls, Juggling with Kids, Kid World Citizen, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Mermaids’ Makings, Montessori Tidbits, Mummymummymum and The Educators’ Spin On It
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Awww, I was hoping you’d magically gotten the Pao de Queijo right, because my attempt was such a failure I’m hoping someone does.
I love your post, it’s a nice combination of activities and recipe.
We had already made pao de queijo and it was absolutely awesome!!! https://kidworldcitizen.org/2012/08/10/brazilian-pao-de-queijo-cheese-rolls/ You have to try this recipe from my friend:).
Interesting recipe, I just realize Nico never had beans, hm, we should try this 🙂 Thanks for joining in!
A great contribution to a neat series!