Arroz e Feijão

Brazil's daily bread: perfectly fluffy white rice (arroz solto) and black beans simmered with garlic, bay, cumin and smoked pork until each bean is enveloped in its own thick, glistening ink-dark broth: the combination that Brazilians call the 'soul of Brazilian cooking' and eat at lunch every single day

Origin: Brazil (national dish)

From the journey of Rice.

Arroz e feijão, rice and black beans, is Brazil's national everyday dish. It is eaten at lunch by virtually every Brazilian, from the Amazon to Rio Grande do Sul, regardless of class, region or background: a nutritional and cultural constant in a vast and diverse country. The combination arrived via two converging paths: Portuguese colonists brought rice cultivation to Brazil from the 16th century, and enslaved Africans contributed the tradition of cooking black beans (feijão preto) with smoked pork and aromatics. The resulting combination was adopted by the entire population and became the bedrock of Brazilian food culture. The secret of great Brazilian rice is 'arroz solto' (literally 'loose rice'): each grain individual, never sticky or clumped, cooked in a specific technique of toasting garlic in oil before adding the rice and boiling water. The beans are cooked separately and slowly until they produce a thick, naturally rich black broth; the 'caldo' that coats every bean. The two are served side by side on the plate and mixed together by the diner, accompanied by farinha (cassava flour for dusting) or farofa.

Ingredients

Rice (Arroz Solto)

400 g long-grain white rice

Rice

3 cloves garlic, minced (for the rice)
2 tbsp neutral oil (for the rice)
700 ml boiling water (for the rice)
1 tsp salt (for the rice)

Beans (Feijão Preto)

400 g dried black beans, soaked overnight, drained

Beans

150 g smoked bacon or linguiça sausage, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced (for the beans)
2 bay leaves
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1.5 litres water (for the beans)
1.5 tsp salt (for the beans, added at the end)
2 tbsp neutral oil (for frying the beans' aromatics)

Accompaniments

To serve: farofa (toasted cassava flour), sliced orange, vinaigrette (finely diced tomato and onion dressed with vinegar), fresh chilli

Method

Start the beans: in a pressure cooker (traditional Brazilian method) or large pot, combine the soaked black beans and water. Pressure cook for 25 minutes (or simmer on the stovetop for 90 minutes) until the beans are very tender.
While the beans cook, make the refogado (the flavour base): in a separate pan, fry the bacon until it renders and begins to crisp. Add the onion and cook until golden, 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin and bay leaves. Cook 1 minute. Add a ladle of the cooked beans with some of their liquid and mash them into the refogado.
Add the refogado to the pot of cooked beans. Simmer all together for 15–20 minutes until the broth thickens and the flavours meld. Season generously with salt. Adjust consistency with water if too thick, or simmer uncovered if too thin.
Make the arroz solto: heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and fry until just golden and fragrant; 30 seconds. Add the unwashed, dry rice. Stir to coat every grain in the garlicky oil. Fry for 1 minute.
Add the boiling water and salt to the rice in one go. Stir once. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to the absolute lowest setting. Cover and cook for 15–18 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
Rest the rice, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork; the grains should be separate, light, slightly fluffy, glistening from the oil and garlic.
Serve a mound of white rice beside a generous ladle of black beans and their broth. Accompany with farofa (for sprinkling over both), a slice of orange (to cut the richness), and a simple vinaigrette.

Notes

Farofa (toasted cassava (manioc) flour, fried with butter and sometimes eggs, bacon or onion) is the essential dry accompaniment to arroz e feijão. Brazilians sprinkle it liberally over the entire plate to add a crunchy, slightly nutty contrast. It absorbs the bean broth and the juices of meat, adding textural variety. Cassava flour is available at Brazilian, Portuguese and Latin American grocery stores. The orange slice alongside is not decorative: the vitamin C in citrus significantly increases the absorption of the iron in black beans, a nutritional fact empirically discovered by Brazilian food culture centuries before nutritional science confirmed it.

The Gastrographer

Name: Arroz e Feijão
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Brazil
Ingredients: 400 g long-grain white rice; 3 cloves garlic, minced (for the rice); 2 tbsp neutral oil (for the rice); 700 ml boiling water (for the rice); 1 tsp salt (for the rice); 400 g dried black beans, soaked overnight, drained; 150 g smoked bacon or linguiça sausage, diced; 1 medium onion, diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced (for the beans); 2 bay leaves; 0.5 tsp ground cumin; 1.5 litres water (for the beans); 1.5 tsp salt (for the beans, added at the end); 2 tbsp neutral oil (for frying the beans' aromatics); To serve: farofa (toasted cassava flour), sliced orange, vinaigrette (finely diced tomato and onion dressed with vinegar), fresh chilli

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control