Amazonia · Volume 22, Tucupi, Jambu and the River's Own Kitchen
Piracuí bolinhos
Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Illustration
As tradition built it
Piracuí bolinhos
Piracuí is roughly 70% protein by the sources that have analysed it
Ingredients
The tradition's method, with the ingredients named. Quantities follow as we verify them.
The filling
- macaxeira (cassava), cooked
- piracuí
- onion
- coriander
- butter
- cebolinha
- queijo manteiga
The coating
- wheat flour
- egg
- breadcrumbs
To fry
- lard
Method
- Cook the macaxeira and mash it.
- Fry the piracuí with onion, coriander and butter.
- Mix it into the macaxeira with the cebolinha and the cheese.
- Roll the mixture into balls by hand.
- Coat them in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
- Deep fry them in hot lard.
Notes
The method is chef Liane Sá's, of AlToque Amazônico in Alter do Chão, with Luciamar dos Santos Batista, as reported in O Liberal; it gives no quantities. The binder is cooked macaxeira, not cassava flour. The only quantified recipe found is a São Paulo chef's.
What a modern chef changes
Home-dried fish flour, sieved batter
Method
- Flake fresh white fish and dehydrate it fully, rather than relying on an imported jar that does not exist in British retail anyway.
- Grind it to a genuine flour in a dedicated spice grinder, controlling both the fineness and the salt level the traditional sun-drying method cannot.
- Pass the bolinho batter's egg and cassava-flour base through a fine sieve before shaping, for a smoother, more even fritter.
- Fry in small batches at a slightly higher, tightly controlled temperature so the crust sets before the fritter can absorb oil.