Brazilian Recipes (Help!)

[Nero 17]

Hello! My wife, a wonderful Brazilian beauty, will be celebrating her birthday in two weeks and I was hoping to cook her some traditional Brazilian foods to celebrate her first birthday in the United States. Does anyone one have any suggestions and / or recipes? I'm hoping to make her birthday really special. Thanks for your help

[PetiteYellow 2]

you can check these website

http://www.food.com/recipes/brazilian

http://brazilianrecipes.org/

http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/exploresouthamericanfood/tp/BrazilianMenu.htm

and many more, you can google for more option

[Nero 17]

Thanks very much Have you tried any? Which are tasty?

[PetiteYellow 2]

No I haven't try any of them. I would like you to have me noted if you have tried it

[Nero 17]

sure thing

[K and L 27]

One thing you could do is make a variety of traditional milk caramel candies -- brigadeiro, beijinhos, camafeu de nozes, etc. They're all about the same procedure (put a pot on medium heat, melt a tablespoon of butter, dump in a can of sweetened condensed milk, and dump in the flavoring -- 1/4c of grated chocolate/chocolate chips for brigadeiro, 1/4c c coconut flakes for beijinhos, 1/4c crushed pecans for camafeu -- and stir until it's thickened to the point that it sticks to the spoon and you can see the bottom of the pot, about 15-20min. When it's done, let cool for an hour or so, and then make quarter sized balls. Roll beijinhos in white sugar and put in a whole clove[take it out before oyu eatthe candy though!], you can roll brigadeiro in chocolate sprinkles, and typically, you coat camafeu with melted chocolate ... search youtube for videos for making brigadeiro), At least in my husband's family, that's what they do on birthdays.

My husband's from Bahia, and he loooooves moqueca. It's a really easy dish, though if you do not have dende on hand, it will not taste the same. (Dende is red palm oil, and it's got a bit of a nutty flavor to it. You can use olive oil as a substitute, but it will be missing something. You can buy dende online - and if you happened to slip some other treats in the cart, she'd probably be over the moon.) Heat 3-4 Tbs of dende in a large skillet. Dice 1 an onion and 2 green peppers and put in the skillet and stir until it's softened. Add 1 16oz can of coconut milk, 1 16oz can of tomato sauce, and let simmer for about 10 minutes. At this point, add your favorite meat (shrimp, clams, crab, lobster, white fish, chicken, pork, beef, eggs -- seafood is traditional in Bahia), and if it's seafood, add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Cover, and let it simmer until the meat's cooked through. Add about 2 handfuls of chopped cilantro, and serve with rice.

I recommend buying the dende online if you don't have it. AmigoFoods.com has dende, Sonho de Valsa & Garoto bon bons, Lacta chocolates, pão de queijo mix (as well as manioc, so you could make some farofa as well), cookies, and a ton more. Haven't bought from them yet, but we'll probably grab some dende there soon,as our last bottle is almost gone.

[Nero 17]

Thank you so much K & L that is so AWSOME! I will definitly go on that website and try to make the candies for her. The moqueca sounds awsome as well. I will have to try to get the Dende here on time :)

[Ban Hammer 13,321]

you might also ask in this thread, it's the brazil thread in this regional forum.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/99253-brasileiritchas/

[kpontes 0]

Well I have been living in Brazil for 3 years and have picked up on some yummy things. For a birthday I would definitely say make wet cake or Bolo molhado. Theres tons of variations based on what she likes and there's a lot of room for creativity. My husband is obsessed with my wet cakes he says they're better than any he's had before. Guess it's my American tastes coming to the table. ANyway. You basically take any cake mix you like and bake it in whichever mold you fancy most. As soon as it comes out of the oven you poke a bunch of holes in it and let it cool for just a minute or two. You want it to still be hot. Throw a can of condensed milk in a little saucepan and heat it on low to medium flame with a little milk and butter. Depending on what she likes, you should also through in things like cinnamon, chocolate drink mix, coconut flakes, brown sugar, etc. and as soon as it's hot you pour it over the cake so the "caldo" seeps down into the cake. You can serve it warm or cooled... it's even better with ice cream. Good luck! Def. take the above advice and look on web sites. There are TONS of things you can make that she'll love. Even better though would to find an international market and buy some pao de quiejo "cheese bread" mix, or you can find them in the frozen section sometimes... and make those for her. It's pretty much the most popular food anywhere in Brazil.. EVERYONE eats them for breakfast and snacks.

[Craneman 2]

Hello! My wife, a wonderful Brazilian beauty, will be celebrating her birthday in two weeks and I was hoping to cook her some traditional Brazilian foods to celebrate her first birthday in the United States. Does anyone one have any suggestions and / or recipes? I'm hoping to make her birthday really special. Thanks for your help

Go to www.amigofoods.com they have a selection of Brasilian foods, pao de quijo, Guarana, Garoto Bom Boms.

I still have some churrasca Bobo quijo in the frig, from the last time I was in Brasil in March, love that stuff, cannot get it here.

[Nero 17]

Thanks so much to everyone who responded. I ended up making Brigadeiro and moqueca. My cooking... well it's not as good as my wife's cooking to say the least, but she was thrilled by the effort and touched that I tried to make Brazilian food. The Brigadeiro tasted awsome...they were just a little too soft to roll (I think I should have cooked them longer)... and the mequeca..... *sigh* at one point I said "we can order Pizza if you want...." and i could tell she was seriously considering it My poor cullinary skills aside, the ideas were awsome and she was so happy I tried. Next year I find a nice Brazilian restaraunt... and try to make it special in other ways.

[Bryan and Isabel 29]

Hello! My wife, a wonderful Brazilian beauty, will be celebrating her birthday in two weeks and I was hoping to cook her some traditional Brazilian foods to celebrate her first birthday in the United States. Does anyone one have any suggestions and / or recipes? I'm hoping to make her birthday really special. Thanks for your help

Beauty is always a given with Brasilians =D