TerezinhaRebelo

Method

1. Boil the potatoes separately and set aside.
2. Put the onion, tomato and palak leaves in a pan with the water and cook until tender.
3. Add the potatoes and pass everything through a blender or mixer.
4. Adjust salt. Serve hot — a ladleful of milk stirred in at the last moment gives a silkier result.

Variation: A second version in Terezinha's notes makes a light aduba with garlic, adds the potato purée, water, finely sliced spring onion rings and milk — a Sunday kitchen refinement of the same dish.

Method

1. Make a well-reduced stock with the chouriço and chicken bones if available; strain.
2. Bring the strained stock to a gentle simmer and add onion rings. After 10 minutes, add cubed tomato pieces.
3. Break 5 eggs into the simmering broth one at a time and poach until just set.
4. Place a slice of buttered toast in each deep bowl. Lay one poached egg on top.
5. Arrange chouriço rounds, onion rings and tomato to the sides, then ladle the hot broth over everything and serve immediately.

Method

1. Cut the tips of the prawn heads and boil them in water to form a stock. Drain and reserve the liquid.
2. Shell the prawns completely. Pound the shells in a little water; add this liquor to the prawn stock and strain.
3. In a grinder, reduce the shelled prawns to a fine paste. Dissolve the paste into the strained prawn stock.
4. Bring to the fire; add butter and cheese powder. Stir constantly so the cheese incorporates smoothly.
5. Just before removing from the heat, stir in a little cornflour dissolved in cold water to achieve the desired consistency. Season with salt and serve hot in cups.

Note: "Sai excelente o caldinho" — comes out excellent, this little broth. Mae's own endorsement.

Method

1. Melt butter over heat and allow to cool slightly. Add the whole beaten egg and a little water. Return to the fire and fold in flour. Cook briefly, stirring. Remove and allow to rest; add more water, salt and flour to desired workable consistency.
2. For the filling: make an aduba with onion in fat. Add pounded garlic and ginger, then the minced prawns. Add a little vinegar, tamarind water, pepper powder and green chilli if desired. Cook until dry.
3. Roll out the pastry. Cut circles, place a spoon of filling on each, fold, seal with a little water and crimp the edges.
4. Brush with beaten egg yolk and fry in hot oil until golden. Drain and serve with salad.

Method

1. Cut the meat into small pieces. Combine with onion, garlic, vinegar, ground chillies and cloves. Close the pan and cook on the fire, stirring with a wooden spoon — the meat cooks in its own juices.
2. When cooked and the liquid is condensed, add tamarind water with salt. Cook until the meat is soft and the sauce absorbed. Add a spoonful of sugar and the green chillies (to be removed before filling). When well reduced, remove from heat and add powdered cloves.
3. For the crust: mix the semolina, egg yolks, sugar, butter and thick coconut milk with the fat rendered from the filling. Work well together.
4. Line small greased moulds with the crust paste. Fill with the prepared meat. Cover completely with more crust. Brush with egg yolk and bake.

Note: The proportions above yield approximately 20 empadinhas. The fat from the meat filling is a structural ingredient in the crust — a transfer of flavour that gives these pies their unmistakable depth.

Method

1. Season the cleaned sardines with salt and set aside.
2. Make an aduba in olive oil with generous onion rings and a little tomato purée. Cook until the onion is softened and lightly golden.
3. Place the sardines into the aduba and allow to cook briefly so the fat begins to render — about 2 boils.
4. Add tamarind water with saffron powder, round pepper powder and the slit green chilli.
5. Simmer gently until the fish is just cooked through. Serve in the pot, or over rice.

Method

1. Grind all the spices finely in vinegar on a dry stone — this is important: the stone must be free of water or the masala will not hold.
2. Make a generous aduba of oil and onion, frying until deeply caramelised.
3. Add the ground masala and fry with the onion.
4. Add the prawns, already lightly fried separately, and cook together.
5. Just before removing from the fire, add a measure of spirit. This is the finishing note — sharp, aromatic, preserving.

Method

1. Extract thin and thick coconut milk separately and reserve each.
2. Grind the pepper, turmeric and cumin with the thin coconut milk.
3. Make an aduba of ginger, garlic and onion. Add a little vinegar. Pour in the thin coconut milk and allow to cook for some time.
4. Add the green chilli (half, for fragrance) and the fish. Cook gently.
5. A short time before serving, add the thick coconut milk. Remove from heat almost immediately — the thick milk should warm through but never boil.

Method

1. Wash the chicken and apply salt, vinegar, saffron powder, round pepper powder, a little cumin, and pounded ginger and garlic. Rest for 10 minutes.
2. Make an aduba with the lard, onions, tomatoes and green chillies.
3. Add the seasoned chicken to the aduba. Pour in 2 cups of water and cook until the chicken is tender and the sauce has reduced.

Note: The simplicity of this recipe belies its depth. The lard is structural — it does not merely fry the aduba but carries the flavour of the spices into every surface of the chicken. It is not a recipe to be made with substitutions on the first attempt.

Method

1. Grind the green chillies, garlic, ginger, round pepper, cumin, coriander, saffron powder, vinegar, lime juice and sugar together into a smooth paste.
2. Apply to the chicken pieces with salt and allow to marinate for 1 hour (or overnight).
3. Fry the marinated chicken in oil until coloured on all sides.
4. Add hot water to the pan and allow to braise until the chicken is completely tender and the masala clings.
5. Scatter fresh coriander leaves over the finished dish. Serve with fried potato chips and a wedge of lime.

Alternatively: The chicken can be arranged in a tray with oil and baked in the oven — a method that gives a drier, more caramelised result.

Method

1. Season the chicken with salt and allow to rest.
2. Fry onions and tomato in oil until golden.
3. Add the chicken pieces and cook with ground cloves, cinnamon, green chillies and vinegar.
4. Separately grind the Kashmiri chillies, ginger, garlic and cumin seeds. Add to the chicken when it is half cooked.
5. Add water and ¼ tsp sugar. Cook until the chicken is tender and the sauce has reduced to a rich, dark red gravy.

Method

1. Apply salt, lime juice and milk to the chicken pieces and rest for 1 hour.
2. Fry 500 g of sliced onion rings in ghee until deep golden and set aside. Make cardamom powder separately.
3. Grind all remaining masala: green chillies, cloves, coriander leaves, pepper corns, cinnamon and garlic.
4. Fry 150 g of onion bits in oil. Add the marinated chicken with all the ground masala. Cook until the chicken is done. Fry cashew nuts and raisins in the same oil.
5. Cook the rice until just firm — slightly undercooked. Mix a little orange colour with milk and drizzle over a portion of the rice.
6. Build the biryani in layers: first chicken, then plain white rice, then coloured saffron rice. Dust each layer with cardamom powder and scatter fried onion, cashews and raisins. Repeat until all is used, ending with rice.
7. Pour the remaining ghee over the top layer. Seal and keep on the lowest possible flame for 20 minutes before serving.

Note: "The rice should be kept a little hard" — all four versions agree on this point. The residual steam inside the sealed pot finishes the cooking without risk of the rice becoming mushy.

Method

1. Mince all filling ingredients together. Add the olives, sliced hard-boiled egg and peas.
2. Lay the duck skin flat. Spread the filling across it and roll tightly. Tie firmly in a cloth.
3. Build the stock: combine the crushed duck bones and wings with water, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, vinegar, olive oil, saffron, cinnamon, long pepper and salt. Simmer for 5–6 minutes.
4. Lower the rolled duck into the simmering stock. Continue cooking until the roll is firm and cooked through.
5. When cooked, strain the stock. To serve: reheat the strained stock, add a little flour dissolved in water, olive oil, butter and lime juice if needed. Slice the roll and pour the sauce over.

Method

1. Grind ginger, garlic and cumin seeds together. Grind red chillies separately in water.
2. Boil the pork meat and all inner parts in water with turmeric and salt until cooked. Cut the boiled meat into small pieces.
3. Fry the meat pieces in oil — not too much, or they harden; not too little. Remove and set aside. Fry the onions in the same oil.
4. Boil the meat and onions together in the meat stock. Add the ground chillies, ground ginger-garlic-cumin, cloves, cinnamon, vinegar and tamarind juice.
5. Cook until the gravy is thick and the oil comes to the surface. Taste and adjust vinegar and salt.

Note: "May add more vinegar if required." Sorpatel is a preserve as much as a dish — the vinegar is not seasoning but architecture.

Method

1. Beat the beef slices well to tenderise. Season with a little salt, vinegar, saffron powder, round pepper powder, garlic and tomato paste. Rest for a short time.
2. Heat a frying pan with lard. Arrange the slices in the pan, close with a lid, and cook in the juices that are released from the meat.
3. When the juices are nearly dry, add a little fat and the onion rings. Allow the onions to fry and caramelise alongside the meat.
4. Arrange the steak on a serving dish. Crown with the fried onions and sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little Worcester sauce if desired.

Method

1. Prepare the bread: soak half the loaf in milk, the other half in water. Squeeze the water-soaked portion completely dry before using.
2. Combine all ingredients and mix very thoroughly by hand until fully integrated.
3. Line a tin with greaseproof paper. Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin. Cover with a lid or foil.
4. Steam in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes only. (Without a pressure cooker: 2 hours of conventional steaming.)
5. Remove from the tin and serve hot or cold as desired.

Method

1. Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add the crushed garlic and fry until lightly golden.
2. Add the cumin seeds and toast briefly until fragrant.
3. Add the water, Maggi cubes (dissolve them), the green pepper and the washed rice.
4. Taste the liquid — it should be pleasantly seasoned, slightly on the salty side, as the rice will absorb it.
5. Seal the pressure cooker and cook to 3 whistles. Taste and adjust salt if needed before serving.

Method

1. Roast the whole brinjal evenly over a low flame, turning frequently, until the skin is charred all over and the flesh is completely soft. Peel away the blackened skin and mash to a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and fry until deep brown.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for a few minutes until they break down.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste and all the powdered spices. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
5. Add the brinjal mash and mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on slow fire for 10 minutes until the oil surfaces. Finish with chopped coriander leaves.

Method

1. Fry the onion in a little oil. Add the crushed masala (ginger, garlic, green chilli) and stir.
2. Add 2 cups of water. When it comes to the boil, add the washed lentil.
3. Cook on high flame first, then reduce to a simmer until all water is absorbed and small holes appear on the surface.
4. Switch off the fire. Mash the lentil with a rounded spoon. Add a little milk if desired, a pinch of pepper and cumin powder. Return briefly to heat until the milk is absorbed.
5. Off the heat: add coriander leaves and tomato pieces if using. Season with salt. Serve immediately.

M.E.'s Note: "If the dhal is not cooked add a little hot water (never cold) while still on fire."

Method

1. Apply salt and soya sauce to the chicken pieces and rest briefly.
2. Make the batter: mix corn flour with eggs, then add pepper powder and ajinomoto. Dip the chicken pieces and deep fry until golden brown.
3. In 3 tbsp of the same frying oil, fry the ground ginger.
4. Combine the three sauces, sugar, salt and ajinomoto; add to the frying pan and cook until the sauce is fragrant and reduced.
5. Add the fried chicken and toss to coat. Serve in a long dish, scattered with finely cut spring onion.

Note: "Chilli oil may be sprinkled on this dish — heat oil, add chilli powder, then strain the oil." This finishing technique is pure Goan Chinese.

Method

1. Combine all sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to thicken and keep warm.
2. Fry all vegetables separately until just cooked. Fry the prawns.
3. Just before serving: mix the fried prawns and all fried vegetables into the hot boiling sauce.
4. Pour over a bed of crisp fried noodles. Serve immediately so the noodles remain crisp.

Method

1. Peel the mangoes and cut into small pieces. Apply salt and leave for 2 hours.
2. Add the sugar and cook for some time.
3. Add half the ground pepper (ground in vinegar), raisins, ginger, garlic, salt and almonds — all cut into pieces.
4. Cook on slow fire until ready. Taste and adjust heat as needed.

Scale: 1 kg mango : 1 kg sugar : 62.5 g long pepper : 40 g ginger : 40 g garlic : 80 g almonds : 80 g raisins. These ratios, written in Mae's hand, suggest a recipe designed for the long term.

Method

1. Cut each lime in fours without fully separating the quarters. Remove the seeds. Fill the cuts with the mixed salt, chilli powder and turmeric.
2. Keep the filled limes in a bottle, placed in sunlight, for 3 days.
3. After 5 or 6 days total: melt the jaggery in a pan and add the vinegar. Boil until the syrup thickens.
4. Add the limes to the thickened syrup. Cook briefly and allow to cool before bottling.

Method

1. Make a sugar syrup (mel) to the thread stage (ponto de folha) and allow to cool.
2. Dissolve the flour in the strained coconut milk without lumps. Strain through a cloth and add to the syrup.
3. Pass the 13 egg yolks through a straining cloth or fine sieve. Add to the mixture along with the salt (dissolved in the warm syrup) and the grated nutmeg last.
4. Heat the oven with fire above and below. Melt two tablespoons of clarified butter in the baking tin and ensure the tin is level.
5. Pour one ladle of batter into the hot tin. After 20–35 minutes, when the first layer is golden-brown, remove the lower heat and lay the second layer. Continue until all batter is used — adding two more tablespoons of ghee every four layers.
6. Ensure the final layer bakes to a good appearance. Decorate with cashew or almond halves.

Note: Original recipe: 2 onnatis (275 g) flour, 2 arratéis (1 kg) sugar, 18 eggs. "Not necessary to use so much butter — it becomes very oily."

Method

1. Grind the coconuts and extract 4 bottles of milk.
2. Boil three bottles of coconut milk with the jaggery until the mixture is thick and sticky.
3. Mix the rice flour with the remaining one bottle of coconut milk until smooth. Add to the boiling mixture.
4. Stir and cook continuously until sufficiently dry and sticky (cashew pieces may be added at this stage).
5. Pour into buttered flat plates. As it cools, cut into pieces. Allow to set completely before serving.

Method

1. Beat the clarified butter well. Add the fine sugar and continue beating until fully dissolved.
2. Add the flour with salt and a little bicarbonate of soda. Rest the dough for 2 hours.
3. Form small rounds. Press a piece of cherry or raisin into the centre of each.
4. Place on a buttered aluminium tray. Bake on low heat (fogo brando) until lightly golden.

Method

1. Melt the chocolate over a few drops of water. Remove from heat.
2. Add the ground sugar, stirring well. Then add the egg yolks and butter. Beat everything together thoroughly.
3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold gently into the chocolate mixture — do not stir after this stage.
4. Pour into a large serving bowl. Decorate with whipped cream, broken walnuts or pieces of walnut as desired.
5. Refrigerate until set.

Method

1. Whip the cream with sugar to taste until holding soft peaks.
2. Dip each ginger biscuit briefly in rum.
3. Arrange a layer of rum-soaked biscuits in a serving dish. Spread a layer of the cream mixture over them.
4. Continue alternating layers of soaked biscuit and cream until all ingredients are used.
5. Cover the entire pudding with cream on the top and sides. Decorate with cherries and walnuts. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Method

1. Beat the egg yolks with sugar over a double boiler (banho Maria) until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Add the condensed milk and continue beating well.
2. Dissolve gelatine in warm water. Add to the mixture, beat well. Add vanilla essence.
3. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into the mixture.
4. In a wet mould, arrange nuts and raisins on the base. Add a layer of the mixture, then powdered Marie biscuit, then more mixture, more nuts and raisins, and so on.
5. The final layer should be biscuit powder (for serving in the same dish). Decorate with nuts, raisins, cherries. For better taste: scrape a chocolate slab on top along with biscuit powder. Refrigerate to set.

Method

1. Combine all ingredients and prepare the batter to the correct consistency — smooth, not too thick, not too thin.
2. Heat the rose cookie iron thoroughly in deep oil.
3. Dip the hot iron into the batter (do not submerge the top of the mould), then immediately lower into the hot oil.
4. The cookie will release from the mould as it fries. Fry until golden and crisp.
5. Drain on paper and serve dusted with fine sugar or plain.

The iron: The mould must be returned to the oil to reheat between each cookie, or the batter will not release cleanly.

Method

1. Cream the ghee and sugar together until light.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, and the vanilla essence.
3. Sift the flour and add to the mixture. Knead until a smooth dough forms.
4. Shape the biscuits as desired and place on a prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake in a pre-heated oven until lightly golden.

Method

1. Grind the pineapples thoroughly and strain the juice carefully to remove all fibre.
2. For every two bottles of pineapple juice, add one bottle of spirit.
3. Sweeten to taste with sugar. Stir until dissolved.
4. Bottle and store in a cool place. Allow to rest for at least several days before serving.

Note: This is a home ferment in the oldest tradition — simple, direct, generous. Adjust the spirit quantity to make it stronger or lighter, and the sugar to suit the sweetness of the fruit.