Crypto-Jewish Brazilian Yellow Stew
From darbar 17 years ago
- 120 minutes to make
- Serves 8
This stew was apparently popular with Jews who fled to Brazil because of Inquisition pressure in Portugal in the 16th century. The recipe comes from the testimony of several servants who denounced the converted descendants of one such immigrant couple, Branca Dias and Diogo Fernandes.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. beef, cut into 1″ cubes shopping list
- 4 dried Thai birdseye chile peppers, crushed shopping list
- 3-6 tbsp olive oil shopping list
- 15 cloves garlic, chopped shopping list
- 2 bay leaves shopping list
- 2 onions, sliced shopping list
- 2 large mangos, peeled and sliced shopping list
- 1/2 C bulghur wheat shopping list
- 1 1/2 tsp saffron threads shopping list
- 1 1/2 tsp ground allspice shopping list
- 2 tsp salt shopping list
- 1 tsp ground black pepper shopping list
- 1/4 tsp ground chipotle shopping list
How to make it
- Heat some olive oil in a large stew pot over medium heat. Fry the garlic, bay leaves, and crushed birdseye peppers for about 3 minutes. Add the onions and fry until translucent, about 5 more minutes. Remove to a plate.
- Add more oil if need be, then cook the meat in a single layer until lightly browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Do it in several batches if you have to. Stir the onion mixture back in.
- Add enough water to just barely cover the meat. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in 1 sliced mango, bulghur, saffron, allspice, salt, black pepper, and chipotle. Continue simmering, covered, for another 45-60 minutes, until the meat is tender. If it looks too watery, remove the lid during the last 15 minutes of cooking, and throw in some corn starch or other thickener if you like. I felt no need to do any of this, but you may wish to.
- Remove the bay leaves, and stir in the second sliced mango.
- As with most stews and curries, this actually tastes better the second day, after the flavors have had all night to meld together in the fridge. It has a bit of a kick to it, but not much. It is intensely flavorful. I can easily imagine 16th century Jewish women cooking this before sunset on Friday night, and leaving the pot covered, nestled by the banked fire, flavors building until they were ready to eat it on Saturday, when they could not cook because of Shabbas.
- Check out this link for the very interesting history behind this dish:
- http://habeasbrulee.com/2006/08/01/crypto-jewish-brazilian-yellow-stew/
The Rating
Reviewed by 2 people-
looks good, love the flavour combinations
tazoncaffeine
in Manchester loved it
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" It was excellent "