Pudim (Brazilian Flan)

 

Ingredients

For the Custard

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2x 14oz cans of sweet condensed milk

For the Caramel

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Make the Custard:

Add all custard ingredients (eggs, milk and sweet condensed milk) to a blender and pulse a few times to combine. Set aside.

Make the Caramelized Sugar Sauce:

In a kettle, or medium pan, bring approximately 2.5-3 quarts of water to a boil for the hot water bath.

Add the sugar and the water to a small saucepan over medium to high heat. Bring it to a simmer, and let it simmer until it turns an amber color, approximately 13 mins. Be sure to watch the pan at all times to avoid burning the sugar, and never, ever, ever stir it.

When the sugar is amber color, carefully pour it in the bundt pan. Coat the inside of the pan with the caramel by swirling it gently up the sides and center of the pan–see the photo in post above. The sugar will be super hot, so be extra careful!

Place the bundt pan in a large roasting pan. Then, pour the custard on top of the caramel.

Pour boiling water into the roasting pan until the water is about approximately halfway up the sides of the bundt pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 mins, then remove the cooked flan from the oven. Please note that the flan will still jiggle a little at the center. It will firm up as it cools.

Let the cooked flan sit in the water bath outside of the oven for another hour or so, until the pan is cool to touch.

After that hour, loosen the flan from the sides of the pan by running a paring knife around the inside and the outside rims. Then place plastic wrap over the flan and refrigerate in the pan for at least 4 hours. (You can also refrigerate it overnight.)

Unmold and transfer to a plate, then serve and enjoy.

Mousse do Maracuja (Passion Fruit Mousse)

-1 can La Lechera sweetened condensed milk (14oz)

-1 can Media Crema (7.6 oz)

-Passion Fruit pulp, defrosted (7 oz, usually half of package)

Directions: Blend all. Put in serving dishes. Chill in fridge for 4+ hours before eating.

-1 1/4 cups passion fruit pulp, defrosted

-1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

-4 cups heavy cream

Directions: Blend passion fruit pulp and sweetened condensed milk together. In a separate bowl, beat cream until it holds stiff peaks. Slowly fold whipped cream into passion fruit mixture. Put in serving dishes and refrigerate 2+ hours.

Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo) GF

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups tapioca flour
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese (a must)
• 1 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese (or any cheese on hand, I use Costco mix)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 400F degrees with a rack in the middle.

Combine the milk, water, oil and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Add the tapioca flour to the bowl of a stand mixer and, once the milk mixture boils, pour it over the flour. Turn the mixer on and mix it well. The texture will be fondant-like, really white and sticky.

With the mixer still on, add the eggs, one at a time. You will think they won't mix, since the tapioca flour mixture is so sticky, but hang in there cause they will.

Once the eggs are incorporated, add the cheese, a little at a time, until fully incorporated.

The dough is supposed to be soft and sticky. However, if you're worried it's too liquidy, add some more tapioca flour. Just don't over do it or your cheese bread will be tough and not too gooey.

To shape the balls, wet your hands with cold water and, using a spoon, scoop some of the dough to shape balls that are a little smaller than golf-sized.

Place the balls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bring it to the preheat oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden and puffed.

Serve them warm! :)

NOTES

To freeze them, shape the balls, place them on the baking sheet and bring to the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer to a ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer up to 3 months.
Once you're ready to use them, preheat the oven to 400 as usual and bake the frozen balls for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and puffy!

https://www.oliviascuisine.com/authentic-brazilian-cheese-bread/

Brazilian Chicken Salad (Salpicao de Frango)

Easy to make and very tasty. Serve over rice and top with shoestring potatoes.

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs chicken breast, poached, cooled and shredded.
2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
2 cups frozen corn kernels, defrosted
2 cups carrots, diced, cooked and cooled.
2 apples, peeled, cored and diced small (Gala or Fuji)
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups mayo
1/2-1 cup raisins
1/2 cup sliced stuffed green olives (opt.)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Toss chicken, vegetables, apples, raisins and olives in serving bowl. Add mayo and combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
I doubled the veggies in this recipe and only slightly increased the mayo. Add mayo to whatever consistency you like.

Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff (Estroganofe de frango)

An unique and delicious way to make Stroganoff, Brazilian Style. It will turn out fairly thin, but thickens as it cools.

Ingredients:

2 lbs chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 Tbs butter
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth (or water plus buillon)
2 TBS Ketchup
2 TBS tomato paste
1 1/2 TBS dijon mustard (or regular mustard)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp oregano (opt)
salt/pepper as needed
1 can Media Crema/table cream (found in hispanic food isle at Walmart and other stores)
shoestring potato fries/stix

Directions:

In large pan, heat butter and saute onion for a few minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and saute for a few more minutes. Add the chicken and broth and turn down heat to medium. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Add the Ketchup, tomato paste and the rest of the spices (but NOT the table cream) and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and add the table cream. The table cream should never be boiled. Serve over rice with the shoestring potato fries on top (or crumpled potato chips).

Brazilian Cheese Bread

You can play around with this recipe to make it how you like it. Add different types of cheeses (Parmesan is a must though), slightly more or less tapioca flour, etc.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup and roughly 3 TBS milk
1 tsp salt
2 cups tapioca starch/flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup (6 oz) grated cheese (Mexican style blend, mozzarella, etc)
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix together oil, milk and salt. Boil until white foam appears (on stove or in microwave). Add hot mixture to tapioca flour in large bowl. Mix with wooden spoon and let rest until it cools down. (Let it cool down or else it will be too thin). Mix in eggs and cheeses. You will get a gooey, sticky mass.

To form balls, cover hands with oil and roll into ball shape as best you can. Each ball should be about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet. Another option is to bake in greased mini muffin tins.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until tops begin to brown.

Notes: Tapioca starch/flour can be found at international food markets, whole foods, etc. The brand Hodgson Mills sells it.

(This is what the package looks like if you  just make the "package" kind. I think you just add eggs and water.)

Brazilian Lemonade like Tucanos

Brazilian Lemonade

4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)
1 c. sugar
6 c. cold water
6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.

Wash limes thoroughly with soap (I just use hand-dishwashing soap or regular hand soap); you need the soap to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you’re using the WHOLE lime, baby. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.

Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender.

Add 1/2 of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk; DO NOT leave this step out unless you will die of a horrible sweetened condensed milk allergy because this is the secret ingredient! You may want to taste test it at this point; I used giant, thick-skinned limes tonight and didn’t test it and it came out a little bitter. If it’s bitter, just add some more sugar and maybe a little more milk.
Serve immediately over lots of ice. This does not keep well, so don’t make this in advance (although you can cut the limes, mix the sugar water, and measure the sweetened condensed milk in advance). Serves 4

Polenta

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
1-3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (or about 1 tsp table salt)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan, grated (opt)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large, oven-safe saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. (I don't have one, so I just use a pot and transfer it to an oven safe Pyrex dish). Add the onion saute until onions begin to turn translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the garlic, and saute for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure the garlic does not burn.
Turn the heat up to high, add the chicken stock, bring to a boil. Gradually add the cornmeal while continually whisking. Once you have added all of the cornmeal, cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring every10 minutes to prevent lumps. Once the mixture is creamy, remove from the oven and add the butter, salt, and pepper. Once they are incorporated, gradually add the Parmesan.

Serve as is, or pour the polenta into 9 by 13-inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator to cool completely.
Once set, turn the polenta out onto a cutting board and cut into squares, rounds, or triangles. Brush each side with olive oil and saute in a nonstick skillet over medium heat, or grill.
Great with gravy, cheese, milk etc.