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Monday, January 2, 2017

The Pão de Quiejo

Happy 2017! Last year I had planned to make these for breakfast on New Year's Day, but my local supermarket's response to "Where is the cassava flour" is "what's that?" A year later, I managed to find tapioca starch in the Thai aisle, and here we are.

Pão de quiejo is a small Brazilian snack roll with cheese in it. This is my husband's uncle's recipe, and is meticulous and specific, and yet I barely did justice to it. Nevertheless:

Heat a cup of milk with a cup of water and 2/3 cup of oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Take off the heat as soon as it starts boiling. On the side, mix two spoons of salt with two cups of cassava flour/tapioca starch. Add this to the hot liquid gradually while stirring all the time with a spatula. Once it starts to cool a little, use your hands to knead.

Once the mixture has cooled down, add two cups of grated Parmesan cheese and knead well. Now begin to add eggs. It may take up to 4-6 eggs for the dough to finally stop sticking. I added six eggs and my dough became a custard - smart - so I had to add a cup or two of dry cassava flour till the dough started looking like dough.

Preheat oven to 190C. Line a cookie tray with baking paper. Roll 1" diameter balls out of the dough and place them far apart (like cookies). Bake for 20-30 minutes (my first batch was done in 20 so do keep a watch). Enjoy them hot! Freeze the rest of the balls for spontaneous pão de quiejo whenever you like!