Abará

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large bowl for soaking beans
• •Food processor or sturdy blender
• •Wooden spoon
• •Large 5-liter pot with steamer basket or rack
• •Kitchen twine or thin banana leaf strips

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Put the feijão-fradinho in a large bowl and cover with plenty of water. Soak 8 to 12 hours, until the beans are swollen and the skins rub loose between your fingers. This is not fuss. Soaking hydrates the beans evenly, helps them grind into a smooth massa, and makes them sit easier in your stomach.

2. 2

   Peel the beans

   Drain the beans, cover them with fresh water, and rub handfuls between your palms. The skins will loosen and float. Pour off the floating skins, add more water, and repeat until most of the beans are pale and skinless. You do not need perfection, but you do need effort. Too many skins make the abará coarse and heavy, and then people blame the recipe. Vamos com calma.

   A honest shortcut: if you find peeled dried black-eyed peas, use them. Soak them anyway. You save the rubbing, but you still need the soaking and the beating.
3. 3

   Soften the leaves

   Wipe the banana leaves clean. Pass each piece quickly over a gas flame, or dip it in very hot water for a few seconds, until it turns glossy and bends without cracking. The leaf is the wrapper and the perfume. If you skip this, it tears when you fold it and you end up chasing bean paste around the counter. I have done this. It is annoying.

4. 4

   Grind the massa

   Put the peeled beans in a food processor with the onion, the drained dried shrimp if using, the ginger if using, and the salt. Grind until thick and mostly smooth, scraping the bowl often. Add water only by the tablespoon if the machine refuses to move. The massa should hold soft peaks, not pour like soup, because a wet batter leaks from the leaf and cooks dense.

5. 5

   Beat by hand

   Scrape the massa into a large bowl and beat it hard with a wooden spoon for 8 to 10 minutes, always pulling from the bottom and folding over the top. Watch it lighten a little and loosen without turning runny. This is the heart of abará and acarajé technique. The beating traps air in the bean paste, so the steamed parcel sets tender instead of landing on the plate like a brick.

6. 6

   Fold in dendê

   Pour in the azeite de dendê and fold until the massa turns a warm rust-orange and looks glossy. Taste a tiny bit and adjust the salt. Dendê is not decoration and not just color. It is fat, flavor, and lineage. Do not swap it for annatto in sunflower oil. That paints the food orange while taking out the thing that makes it abará.

7. 7

   Wrap the parcels

   Lay one softened banana leaf piece shiny side up. Spoon about 1/3 cup massa into the center. Fold the long sides over the batter, then fold the ends under to make a snug parcel. Set it folded side down, or tie it with kitchen twine if your leaves are stubborn. Leave a little room inside, because the bean paste swells as it cooks.

8. 8

   Steam until firm

   Set a steamer basket or rack inside a large pot and add water below the basket, not touching the parcels. Bring the water to a steady simmer, arrange the abarás in one or two loose layers, cover, and cook for 40 to 45 minutes. The leaves will darken and the parcels will feel firm when pressed. Gentle steaming sets the bean starch without frying, which is why abará is softer and calmer than acarajé.

9. 9

   Rest and check

   Turn off the heat and let the parcels rest 10 minutes before opening one. The massa should be set all the way through, tender, moist, and orange from the dendê. If the center still looks wet and pasty, wrap it back up and steam 10 minutes more. Beans tell you when they are done. Listen.

10. 10

    Serve warm

    Serve the abará warm in its opened banana leaf, with pimenta, vatapá, or caruru if those are on your table. For a home plate, put it beside rice and something green and you have the same old Brazilian wisdom wearing a celebration shirt: beans, leaf, fat, heat, and a cook who did not give up.

Chef Tips

• •Do not use a seasoning packet, shrimp-flavored powder, or anything pretending to be the work of onion, shrimp, salt, and dendê. Powder is not a shortcut here. It is imitation food.
• •A food processor is allowed. A Tuesday is a Tuesday, and most of us do not have a stone mill at home. But after the machine grinds, your hand still beats the massa. That part is not decorative.
• •Dendê is non-negotiable. The annatto-and-sunflower-oil trick is erasure with a prettier label. If you cannot get dendê today, make another bean dish today and make abará when you can get the real oil.
• •Frozen banana leaves work well. Thaw them, wipe them, and soften them with heat so they fold instead of split. They carry aroma and structure, not folklore for the camera.
• •If you do not eat shrimp, leave it out and add salt carefully. Do not replace it with seafood powder. The bean, onion, dendê, and leaf still make real food.

Advance Preparation

• •The beans must soak 8 to 12 hours before peeling and grinding.
• •Peeled soaked beans can be refrigerated in water for up to 24 hours. Drain well before grinding.
• •Banana leaves can be cut, wiped, softened, and refrigerated 1 day ahead, wrapped in a clean towel.
• •Cooked abará keeps 3 days in the fridge. Reheat in a covered steamer for 10 to 15 minutes, still wrapped.
• •Cooked parcels freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in the steamer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 115g)