Texture Issues

Brazil is a country of soccer fanatics. In fact, despite the outcome of this year's world cup, Brazil has been the most successful country overall, winning five times! They also have delicious coffee, in fact I was really tempted to make iced Brazilian coffee as "a dish" but I figured that might be cheating a little. Brazil also has the largest variation in monkey species, the largest rain forest, and one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world. See, I told you they loved their soccer!

As for the cuisine, you can probably guess it's quite varied just based off the size of the country. The better known region for its cuisine is the southeast where chicken, pork, beans, and corn are quite common and when you think of rice and beans, this is a region known for it. European influences are also present in this region. Then further north you get into dishes that are more native to Brazil. Vatapa is a classic Brazillian dish popular in the north and northeast coast. In this region it's eaten with fried patties made from black eyed peas, but in the rest of Brazil it's eaten on rice. The "stew" which is more paste-liek than stew-like is more commonly made with shrimp, however chicken, turkey, and fish are other options. Vatapa made with chicken is called Vatapa de Galinha and was the variation that I chose for my meal.

Now I must first put a disclaimer here. I can't even convince myself that this is a beautiful dish. In fact it looks like something that was already digested but decided to make a reappearance. I know, gross, but in all honesty no matter what light or angle you look at this or how you "stage it," it's just that. So because I can't even convince myself, there is no way I'm going to try and convince you guys. The recipe suggests dendê (palm)oil, which would give it a more yellow tone and less khaki, and maybe that will help on the appearance front, but at this rate the breadcrumbs still make it decidedly mushy looking and unappetizing. I will say one thing, the shrimp/garlic/onion/pepper mix smells absolutely delightful when you cook it. I was salivating just stirring the pot.

Of course then you add peanut butter and breadcrumbs and that delicious scent sort of vanishes, not that it smells bad, it just doesn't smell as good. As for flavor, I'm completely confused by this recipe to be honest. It's not appealing to the eyes, it's smells decent enough, the texture isn't appealing to my tongue, yet it's not the worst thing I have ever eaten. I did like the coconut flavor and the spiciness of the pepper, I did like the hint of shrimp and the shredded chicken, but I did not like the consistency and overall flavor. I'm a texture eater and a lot of times perfectly good dishes put me off because the texture seems off, I definitely had texture issues with this one.

I should also mention that despite the unique flavors, on the surface it's rather bland, but if you separate the flavors it's good. I'm not sure how that makes sense, but that's the best I can do to describe this rather odd "stew" which is more like a thick paste. In fact without the rice I don't think I would have been able to eat a bowl of this. To prove this, halfway through it I added additional pepper flakes to try to distract myself from the texture. Breadcrumbs are just too strange to be used as a thickening agent. I don't know about this, you're just going to have to whip up the courage to make it yourself if my description has failed because I don't see any other way for you to understand what I'm babbling about. If you're torn on whether you should make this, I should mention that I'm wasn't exactly jumping with joy at the fact that I had to eat the leftovers. However, the I did get more accustomed to the texture after the second time around, but it still wasn't quite my thing.


Perhaps you thought I was exaggerating when I mentioned the appearance of this. Nope, I'm too honest for that.