Holiday Brazilian Farofa (Gluten Free)
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Hello, friends!
Before I even start talking about food, I need to share this wonderful news with you: I am going to the Food Blog Forum 2015 conference in Orlando!!! Yay! I can’t even believe it, because after trying to buy the pre sale last Thursday and failing miserably, I realized how hard it was to snag tickets for that and kinda lost hope. But my lovely husband was able to get us tickets on Saturday (when I was at work) during the second registration.
So yeah, I’m going to my first food blogging conference. I’m all excited and nervous at the same time. I still consider myself a baby food blogger so there’s something intimidating about being in a room full of seasoned amazing food bloggers! But I’m sure I will learn a lot! Oh, and we are going to be staying at the Grand Floridian and we also get one day of Disney park hopper tickets. (Can you picture me jumping up and down when I got my husband’s text saying he got us tickets? My coworkers probably thought I was a little silly…)
Anyway, back to food talking… I bet you’re looking at this post’s title and thinking “What the heck is that?!?”. Unless you’ve been to Brazil or at least to a Brazilian restaurant, it is natural that you have no idea what Farofa is. But I’m here to change your life and introduce you to this gluten free delicious side dish! You’re welcome! :-P
Farofa is a toasted manioc (or sometimes maize) flour mixture and it’s served as a side dish for meats, beans, feijoada (black bean stew) and, during the holidays, to stuff poultry. There are lots of different ways to make it and lots of different types of manioc flour that you could use. For example, you may find white or toasted manioc flour. The toasted one has a stronger/nuttier flavor and I usually use it when making Farofa as a side dish for feijoada. However, for my Holiday Farofa recipe I use the white type and I let it toast slightly with the butter and the bacon.
Unless you live somewhere with a big Brazilian community, you probably won’t find manioc flour that easily. But don’t fret! That’s why the internet exists. You can find it here or here!
If you’re going to find it on your own (courageous, you!), be sure to look for coarse manioc/yucca flour (farinha de mandioca) and not tapioca flour as that won’t work. Save your tapioca flour/manioc starch to make delicious pães de queijo (Brazilian cheese rolls)! Look for the brand Yoki as that’s the brand I usually see here in the U.S.!
There are lots of different ways to make Farofa, especially depending on the region. Ingredients like eggs, banana, collard greens, carne seca (a type of jerked beef) and herbs are used for some of the varieties of this tasty dish. For the holidays, I like to make my Farofa with dried fruits (usually raisins), nuts and bacon. It makes the Farofa chunky, like American stuffing, and perfect to be served with turkey. Unlike lots of Brazilians, I don’t stuff my turkey. I serve my Farofa on the side and,’til this day, nobody complained! In fact, I have yet to serve my Holiday Farofa and not see some people just eating it by the spoonful! (Hint: that’s a great way to make me happy!)
The secret to a good Farofa is always butter. There’s even a recipe I have that is pretty much manioc flour, onions and lots of butter and it’s also to die for! (I serve that version when I make my rice with raisins and almonds!) So if you’re afraid of butter, this is not the recipe for you! As Julia Child would say: “With enough butter, anything is good!”.
Holiday Brazilian Farofa (Gluten Free)
Prep Time:
5 minutes
Cook Time:
15 minutes
Total Time:
20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 cups manioc flour
- 4 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (or slivered almonds)
- 1 1/2 cups raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
19 Comments on “Holiday Brazilian Farofa (Gluten Free)”
That’s so exciting that you’re going to a conference! I definitely need to look into that too…one of my goals for 2015! :) This farofa looks delicious, Olivia! I’ve never heard of this before, but it looks like the perfect side dish!
They still have one more registration day this week, Gayle! You should totally try to go!!! :)
I’ve never had farofa! I can’t wait to try it! And so exciting you’re going to the food blog conference in Orlando! That will be so fun : )
I know, right? I’m so excited!! I had already given up on going because it was so hard to get tickets during the pre sale, but my husband got lucky!! :)
Never heard of let alone tasted a brazilian farofa before. Think I have been missing out on something seriously delicious, definitely curious to know what it tastes like!
It is delicious! Crunchy and full of flavors!! :)
I just love Farofa and your recipe looks great!
Thanks, mom! :) haha
Wow that’s so cool Olivia! I bet the conference will be a lot of fun! Maybe I should also try to get in, let’s see! Thanks for sharing this recipe, it’s always interesting to learn about different cuisines :)
Thanks, dear! I would be great if you could go and I’d love to meet you in person! They have one more registration day this week! You should totally try to get tickets!!
I know that would be amazing! I will look out for the tickets :) Btw check this http://www.cookwithmanali.com/liebster-award/
I nominated you for Liebster Award!
My friend your farofa recipe is so delicious. My mom has an awesome farofa recipe that she keeps saying “when you come to Brasil we will make my farofa recipe together and you will post on your blog”… hahhahaha! I am so excited for you about the Orlando trip. Disney is awesome. I love that place and I wish I would go there every year ;-)
Farofa is love <3
Wow this sounds so interesting! I am really curious about the texture of the dish. I’m not sure if I’d find manioc flour anywhere around me, but the next time I go to a Brazilian restaurant I’m definitely going to have to try this :)
Thanks Karishma! You could order it online for sure, no? :) If you order feijoada at a Brazilian restaurant it’ll definitely come with some farofa on the side! ;-)
Hi..Im glad to have found this recipe. I was in Portugal last year on vacation & ate at a restaurant and i had ordered feijoada and along side was a bowl of what looked like fine saw dust or bread crumbs which I never had before but after eating the farofa with the feijoada it was amazing and it soaked up the sauce from the feijoada. Thank you for the recipe I will have to try making it.
Thank you for this amazing recipe. My grandmother always used to make this for me. I have been try to find a really good recipe for this and this is the best one after my grandmothers.
Thank you for the great recipe! I made all the side dishes as well – based off of your recipes and it was so delicious!
Yay! So glad it was delicious.