farofa — Brazil

Farofa is a side dish built around flour, most often cassava flour though corn, wheat or quinoa flour also appear, toasted in fat until it turns golden and takes on a nutty aroma. Some households use stale bread baked and crumbled instead of raw flour as the base. It is served across Brazil, appearing at everyday lunches as well as at larger gatherings, almost always as a side spooned alongside rice, beans, grilled meat or stews rather than eaten on its own. Because the flour itself is fairly plain, the dish takes much of its character from whatever is added to the pan, and both home cooks and restaurants keep their own preferred combinations. Bacon is rendered first so its fat can carry flavor into the rest of the dish, then onion and garlic are softened in the same pan. The cassava flour is added gradually over low heat, stirred constantly so it toasts rather than burns, until it turns a light golden color. The crisp bacon and, in many versions, chopped hard-boiled egg are folded back in, with parsley, salt and pepper added at the end. What distinguishes one farofa from another is largely the mix of add-ins folded into the toasted flour: bacon and egg in this version, but other households use smoked meat, sausage, olives, raisins or beans instead, and the flour itself may be swapped for corn or wheat. The one constant across the many versions found in different regions is the technique of slowly toasting flour in fat until it turns crumbly and golden.