Açaí tradicional

As tradition built it

Açaí tradicional

Serves 1 . 5 minutes to blend and assemble

Ingredients

The method as the tradition gives it, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them, lead dishes first.

• ripe açaí
• water
• to serve salted fish, dried meat or shrimp, to serve
• to taste farinha, a generous scattering

Method

1. Blend the ripe açaí with water alone, no sugar, no fruit, no cereal, into a thick, dark, faintly bitter cream.
2. Take it by the spoonful with a piece of salted fish, dried meat or shrimp.
3. Stir through a generous scattering of farinha to make a coarse, savoury farofa.

Notes

It is a full meal, not a snack, and its correct texture is dense enough to hold a spoon upright.

What a modern chef changes

High-power blend, crisp accompaniments

Method

1. Blend the açaí pulp in a high-power blender specifically to break down every last fibre.
2. Pass it through a chinois for a cream smoother than any hand-mashing gets, restoring the dish's own point, an unsweetened, savoury food.
3. Dehydrate flaked, salted fish separately until properly crisp, folding it through at the very last moment rather than letting it soften in the cream.
4. Toast the farinha briefly in a dry pan immediately before serving, so its own crunch survives contact with the açaí for longer than a minute.