Bobó de Camarão

Bobó is the name given to any dish thickened with mashed cassava. It?s actually quite common in west Africa where Yam is used instead of cassava. This and many other dishes made their way to Brazil in the hundreds of slave ships which transported Brazil?s main workforce during its colonization days.

Bobó de Camarão is now a firm fixture in any Typical Brazilian restaurant. It?s delicious and simple dish to prepare, the only tricky ingredient to find being cassava. But you can revert to Yam if necessary. Brazilian cooking varies up and down our vast country, so there are different versions of the dish. I now for instance that in Bahia, no tomatoes are used in the recipe. This is the recipe I learned while I lived in Rio.

The recipe:

* 8 large prawns

* 12 smaller prawns

* 4 tomatos -peeled and chopped

* 1 large onion, chopped

* 2 or 3 cloves of garlic

* 1 kg of cassava, boiled and chopped.

* 2 cups of coconut milk

* 4 cusp of shrimp stock (use the heads and skins from your prawns!)

* 2 table spoons of Palm Oil (Dendê) paste

* 1 cup of double cream

* fresh coriander

* salt and Pepper



Peel and cut the manioc and put in a pan with cold water and salt. Cook until tender, drain and reserve both the cooked manioc and the liquid. Discard any manioc fiber. Using a fork mash the manioc while still hot, using some of the liquid to help in the process. Do not use a blender or food processor.

Peel and devein the shrimp, reserve the shells and make a broth to be used in the bobó. Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until wilted. Add the pepper, 1/2 of the chopped cilantro and the tomatoes, stirring well. Add the shrimp and the pureed manioc. Check the amount of liquid and add more shrimp broth to thin the mixture, if necessary. Add the coconut milk, the remaining cilantro and the palm oil. Check for salt and pepper.

Serve over Brazilian white rice