← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 500 g dried black beans
• 600 g smoked pork ribs (or unsmoked), cut into single ribs
• 300 g Pork belly, cut into 4 cm chunks
• 4 Bay leaves
• 2.5 l water, roughly
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 200 g smoked bacon or pancetta, in a piece, diced
• 250 g smoked sausage (linguiça or calabresa), sliced
• 2 Onion, chopped
• 5 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 400 g white rice, cooked, to serve
• 2 Orange, peeled and sliced
• 1 bunch collard greens or kale, sautéed with garlic (optional)

Method

1. The night before, cover the beans with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak for at least 8 hours. Drain and rinse.
2. Put the beans, ribs, pork belly and bay leaves in a large heavy pot and add water to cover by about 5 cm. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, then simmer partly covered for 1½ hours, stirring now and then and topping up with hot water so the beans stay covered.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the bacon and sausage for 8–10 min, until browned. Add the onions and cook for 8 min, until soft, then stir in the garlic for 1 minute.
4. Tip the contents of the frying pan into the beans, scraping in all the tasty bits. Simmer for 1 hour more, until the beans are creamy and the rib meat slips off the bone.
5. Squash a ladleful of beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in to thicken the stew. Season with pepper and salt (taste first, the smoked meats are salty).
6. Fish out the bay leaves and loose bones, and let the stew rest for 10 min. Serve with white rice, orange slices and garlicky greens.

Tips

• Traditional feijoada also uses carne seca (salted dried beef): soak it overnight with the beans, changing the water, and add it with the ribs.
• Sprinkle each plate with farofa (toasted cassava flour) for the full Brazilian experience.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

BBC Good Food Camila Made