This week's recipe is Mozambiquan (?) We're starting to travel away from my cultural comfort zone and into some uncharted tastebud territories, but not too far off. As long as it's not snake meat or elephant toenails and insect larvae, I think I'm okay. Anyway, with that appetizing introductory description, in my research, I found, apart from a whole lot of "Shrimp Mozambique" recipes, that Mozambique has a lot of Portuguese culinary influences. Well this makes sense, since in 1498, Portuguese explorers found their way into the now-country's territories. Portuguese influence expanded until the end of the century, however Mozambique gained their independence only fairly recently in 1975. Here's a map of the Republic of Mozambique!
It's a nice piece of land, with the Indian Ocean to the East, and the river Zambezi and Lake Nyasa to the North. The climate is tropical to subtropical, and products that are domestically consumed are corn, pigeon peas, cassava (tapioca), rice, beef, pork, chicken, and goat.
So I chose a Portuguese recipe this week, but don't worry — it wasn't arbitrary. I read that these are actually eaten in Mozambique. Perhaps we'll see when we get there. They are little cheese breads called "Pãozinho" or "Pao de Queijo." They are made with tapioca flour and a wholleee lottaaa cheeese! MMMMmmmmMMmmm. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, so I don't know how "authentic" it is, but they came out rich and cake-y.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil or butter
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup milk or soy milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups tapioca flour
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 beaten eggs
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Pour olive oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. Set aside to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized balls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven until the tops are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
These are perfect if you have a gluten allergy and you love cheese. 🙂
