Brazilian Recipes to Cook for the Olympics
While most of us can’t be in Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, we can cook up a little Brazilian cuisine at home. Here are some Brazilian favorites from Epicurious we plan to try over the next couple of weeks as we cheer on these amazing athletes.
Considered the national drink of Brazil, a traditional caipirinha is made with just fresh limes, sugar, and cachaça, a Brazilian spirit distilled from sugarcane juice.
Traditionally associated with Argentina, variations of chimichurri—itself a variation of salsa verde—exist throughout South America. This condiment is usually made with parsley and a mix of other herbs, plus red peppers, green onions, and/or garlic.
A soft, chewy bread roll about the size of a golf ball infused with cheesy flavor, pão de queijo is Brazil's favorite savory snack. Manioc starch, which comes from a root vegetable also known as cassava or yucca, gives the bread an incredible gooey, chewy texture.
Variations on empanadas exist across Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. (In Brazil, they are most often referred to as a pastel.)
This sundae is decidedly not a traditional preparation, but Brazil nuts and bananas add South American flavors.
Unlike other grain-free and gluten-free substitutions, you can pretty much swap in this cassava flour for all-purpose flour to achieve a very good result in these chocolate chip cookies. That being said, cassava flour isn’t a perfect fit for every recipe, and it certainly isn’t an even swap, regardless of what the packaging says. Cassava flour is lighter than all-purpose flour yet it absorbs more liquid (meaning you should scale back the amount when making a substitution). You have to play around a bit to strike the right balance.
Inspired by Brazil's national drink, these boozy popsicles are made with cachaça, lime juice, and mint.
