Back to school

"In Brazil we have a saying, Put some water in the beans. It means, I´m bringing a friend to dinner so make the food stretch." So says my new Brazilian cooking guru Simone at the beginning of my cooking lesson at Cook in Rio. This phrase highlights so much of the open-hearted, open-doored warmth I have found all over Brazil and when you sit to eat at a Brazilian table you´ll find there´s more to Brazilian food than mere sustenance.
We start the lesson with fried mandioca or to give them their native Indian name Aimpim frites. Here is the first history lesson of the day, the main influences at work in Brazilian cooking are Portuguese, African and native Indian. Mandioca is a long brown root that is known in African cuisine as cassava. When the Portuguese first started to bring slaves to emerging Brazil they mixed with enslaved Indians and found many of the same foods in their cooking. The native people of Brazil used Mandioca ground into a powder like a rough flour. Back to the cooking pots, where long chips of mandioca are being par boiled as you would with potatoes before roasting. They are then added to soya oil for a light fry. While they cool off, we prepare a drink called batida de coco. This something else Simone is insistent on, that the chef always needs to have a drink to aid creative culinary juices. Batida de coco is one shot of cachaça and one shot of coconut milk with sugar and cinnamon. We sit down to our mid morning snack and shot and the chips taste like a British potato chip but with a firmer middle.
Creative juices stirred we get started on the main event, Brazilian favourite Moqueca. This is made all over Brazil but it´s really a Bahian dish. Bahia is the coastline with the first capital of Brazil Salvador at its centre. Bahia is the heart of Afro-Brazilian culture and Bahian cuisine is rooted in the traditions of the African slaves. Moqueca is a stew of fish and coconut milk usually served with rice and farofa. We make our moquecha with fish but it can also be made with prawns. We throw in a filleted fish followed by the head and tail, Simone tells me that all the flavour is in the bones so these bits are essential. Frying onions and garlic in orange palm oil I immediately see how the dish gets it´s beautiful pale sunset colouring. The fish is then thrown in with the coconut milk to cook and rings of peppers are added. A small amount of cumin is used for seasoning and fresh coriander is chopped in. We also fry chopped banana in mandioca flour and onion to make the side dish farofa.
Before we sit down to eat Simone shows us how to prepare the most Brazilian of drinks, the capirinha. Sugar, cachaça and some expertly mashed limes on ice for a taste so sharp and sweet it refreshes instantly.
After ten minutes of simmering, the moqueca is ready for the table. It´s beautifully delicate, the most prominent flavour coming from the palm oil, punctuated with the fresh coriander. I can´t affiliate palm oil with anything we have in the west, it´s almost like a nut oil but it has such a unique flavour. The fish and banana farofa are wonderful together, the bananas adding a hint of sweetness. The mandioca flour soaks up the ample coconut sauce and it´s all very light and heartwarming in the same instance. At the table Simone tells me how important the Brazilian dining table is, phones are left unanswered and the through-traffic of people who have been dropping in all day are dispelled for the important table talk.
I realise as Simone talks to me about her life, offering advice on everything from the best kitchen knife to who not to marry, that if you want to get to know Brazilian culture, history and social graces you should forget the museums and tour guides - it´s all right here in the orange soupy residue left on my plate.


For more information about the Cook in Rio cooking class, go to www.cookinrio.com