Okay, here’s the thing: this is a vegetarian take on a traditional Brazillian dish that, as far as I know, has no traditional vegetarian equivalent. Most recipes start with assembling most of the parts of the pig and then adding beans for color. This one is just beans and aromatics and I’m a little fuzzy on the proportions because I really did just make it up as I went. But it honestly ended up tasting great.
I start from dried beans because they’re cheaper and I’m usually not cooking on a clock, but you can use canned beans if you want. Should knock several hours off the cooking time.
Ingredients
2/3 cup dry black beans
2/3 cup dry red kidney beans
1 large onion, quartered
10-12 cloves of garlic (I really just threw in a handful)
4 cups vegetable stock + water to cover
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon paprika, smoked if possible
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon smoke powder if you weren’t able to use smoked paprika. And if you can find it, it’s kind of a specialty item. You could probably sub in liquid smoke, but I’ve never worked with it so I have no idea how much to add
Salt to taste (really have no clue here. maybe a tablespoon of table salt? Half a tablespoon? Beans tend to soak up salt like crazy. Hold off on most of the salt until the end, because it’s going to reduce as it cook and you don’t want it to end up oversalted)
Directions
Put the beans in a large pot, cover with water, and then cover with a lid. Set aside for two days while the beans soak; this will knock several hours off of the eventual cooking time.
Once you’re ready to cook, drain the beans, then return them to the pot, along with the onions, garlic, bay leaf, and vegetable stock. Add water to cover (if necessary, but you might be fine with just the stock), bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Let it simmer for three to four hours as the beans break down.
While it simmers, mix together the coriander, cumin, paprika, black pepper, and optional smoke powder, and stir half into the feijoada once you have it at a simmer. Let it cook, and keep tasting it as you go. If you decide it needs more flavor, sprinkle a bit more of the spice mixture in. You may not end up using all of it.
Stir periodically, adding water if the level gets low enough that not everything is covered. Eventually, the beans are going to start to break down, and the texture of the liquid is going to thicken, at which point you start to risk burning it. If you feel it sticking to the bottom of the pot while you stir, then remove the pot from the heat and stir until the bottom feels clean, then put it back on reduced heat.
After two or three rounds of reducing the heat, it should be done, with a thick broth, but the beans should still be identifiable. Eat with salsa, experimental cheese, and garlicy collard greens.
eatbensmeat 