Searching about our Feijoada I found this quote: ” one version holds that feijoada’s history can be traced back to 19th-century plantation workers in the Brazilian sugar-cane fields, who combined protein-rich beans and the aromatic heat of native dendê oil with pigs’ ears and meat refuse salvaged from the plantation owners’ kitchens. The result is an appetizing and filling soul food that today is at the center of convivial family reunions in Brazil.” ( http://www.epicurious.com)
But the reality is that I ‘m not sure if came with the Portuguese people that colonized Brazil or it was a combination with that ” Portuguese stew beans tradition” with what I used to hear when I was a child that whatever was left from the pork that nobody wanted to eat they would thrown to slaves and the slaves refined into a very traditional Brazilian dish. Maybe is a mix of Portuguese x African food. who knows?
Anyway, the story short is I don’t eat pork since 1997. It was a personal choice and a religious choice.
Do I Know how bacon tastes like?- yes, I do. Can you substitute bacon?- no you can’t,let’s be honest, nothing else taste like bacon but if you decided to get ” healthier” you can adapt our Brazilian Feijoada do be Pork free.
What means from cheap parts of the pork, you will get more expensive, using farm turkey pepperoni, farm chicken bacon, beef salami, Montreal smoked beef and a smoked turkey leg from a farmer’s market.
The taste is pretty good, I can guarantee.
here is my recipe :
PORK FREE AND GLUTEN FREE PRISCILLA KERR’S FEIJOADA:
Ingredients :
ONE LEG OF SMOKED TURKEY ( I get mine from FOOD fare at Maryland St) they carry some farm products there.
4 slices of chicken bacon chopped ( sobeys you can find )
3 turkey pepperoni chopped
100 gr of Montreal smoked beef ( I prefer the taste of the kosher)
100 gr Beef salami (( I prefer the taste of the kosher)
1 big onion chopped
4 gloves of garlic
3 bay leaves
3 table spoons of grape seed oil
3 cups of black beans soaked in water for 12 hours. ( I got mine at superstore)
one pressure cooker.( or slow cooker for 9 hours on AUTO)
1 tablespoon of Mediterranean salt and few dried piccant calabrese pepper
preparation :
I use my pressure cooker, 6 liters. You can use a slow cooker but you have to fry all the meats onions and garlic before you add at the slow cooker in a separate pan, than you transfer to the slow cooker and add the 4 liters of water.Than cook for 9 hours.
On pressure cooker add the oil and when is hot you add the onions and garlic and wait they get some translucence, than add the chicken bacon and see that the corner got that golden color.Than add the pepperoni, do the same thing and than the Montreal smoked beef and salami. add the 3 bay leaves the salt and the pepper. Get the turkey leg, put on top, add the black beans and fill with 3-4 liters of water. Cook in the pressure for 35 min. After is done, turn off the pressure cooker and wait few minutes to open. I keep in low heat for a bit more until I see some consistency in the beans broth. ( for adding flavor sometimes I do a beef broth or lamb broth and I add one or 2 cups with the water as well)
after is ready, make sure you have white rice and than stir fry some chopped kale. I serve with chicken and beef kebabs on the barbecue. Brazilian people use a tapioca flour Farofa with feijoada, but it is not easy to find that same type of Tapioca flour in Canada. Here is more a Powder or starch. in Brazil I used to buy 1/2 kg de farinha de mandioca de biju
good luck!
Vinaigrette:
I realized once many friends requested this recipe I forgot to add the Vinaigrette that we created to put on top of the beans to spicy things a little bit.
Here are the ingredients and how to prepare:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 table spoon of kosher salt
1 tea spoon of ground pepper
1 tea spoon of dark sugar
1 shallot sliced very thin
2 gloves of garlic sliced very thin and small
1 orange sweet pepper sliced very thin and small
1 yellow sweet pepper sliced very thin and small
1 Serrano pepper sliced very thin and small ( remove seeds)
2 jalapeno peppers without seeds sliced very thin and small
1/2 cup of chopped parsley very thin
Tabasco sauce 1 table spoon ( It depends how Spicy you wanted to be- you can add more or less)
How to prepare it:
just put everything in a bowl and refrigerate it for few hours before you serve it. You use on top of the black beans.
Sauteed Collard Greens:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/18/kale-compared-to-other-vegetables_n_3762721.html
Every Feijoada in our house and many other Brazilians House we serve Sauteed Collard Greens, you can’t find exactly the one we have in Brazil but the most close one is the Collard Greens. When I can’t find I buy Kale. The Collard Greens ” It provides over 250 percent of a person’s daily needs for vitamin A, over 50 percent of vitamin C, 26 percent of calcium, 1 percent of iron, and 10 percent of both vitamin B-6 and magnesium.Collard greens are a rich source of vitamin K. They also contain folate, thiamin, niacin, pantothenic acid, choline, phosphorus, and potassium.” And not only that, when you prepare Feijoada it will be a colorful plate to eat, with greens, black, white and the rainbow colors of the vinaigrette.
here is how you prepare it:
I bought at @saveonfoods on the Organic section, sometimes they have it sometimes they don’t.
I bought 2 of them, each one comes with 6 leaves.
You have to wash it with running water than you remove just the lower part of the main stem , just cut where you see that the leaves ended. Otherwise the lower stalk will be hard to chew. Make a big roll and slice thin like the photo on the side.
Slice one red onion very thin and 2 gloves of garlic, stir fry ( high heat) both in a large fryer with 2 table spoons of olive oil, add the washed Collard greens and add salt and pepper. It will be ready in less than 3 minutes, just mix well until you see all the leaves are cooked. Serve beside the rice and beans