The Flavours of Bahia

Bahia is considered the soul of Brazil where the country's cultures and races have mixed to produce what many believe is authentically Brazilian.

Bahian cuisine has Portuguese and native Amerindians contributions but the greatest influence came from the enslaved Africans who brought with them their own style of cooking. Malagueta chili peppers and dendê oil features prominently in many if not most dishes.

Roch tried his first "acarajé" yesterday from an 'authentic' street market Baiana as compared to the Baianas we see in the historical centre who are carefully dressed for the tourist trade. Acarajé is made from shelled fradinho beans (similar to black-eyed peas), which are mashed together with ground shrimp and other ingredients, formed into a ball, then deep-fried in dendê oil. It is served split in half and then stuffed with vatapá or caruru, shrimps, and salad, and hot chili pepper. (Vatapá is made from bread, shrimp, coconut milk, finely ground peanuts and palm oil mashed into a creamy paste. Caruru is made from okra, onion, shrimp, palm oil and toasted peanuts and/or cashews.)

For dinner, we sampled our first moqueca, one of the region’s most popular dishes. Moqueca is a salt water fish stew that's slowly cooked in a terra cotta casserole. It's made with coconut milk, garlic, onion, cilantro, pepper, tomatoes, and the ubiquitous dendê oil and the flavour is reminiscent of a Thai curry. We had a vegetarian version at Bar Zulu so it wasn't authentic per se but oh my, washed down with an icy Skol beer, life just does not get better.Read more