Brigadeiro ;p

There is a delicious Brazilian sweet that is like a chocolate called brigadeiro!

It is named after a Brazilian politician in the 1920s, Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes. He was an Army brigadier general who first gained notoriety for playing a part in quashing a communist coup in Rio.

This is a great type of sweet that is loved in Brazil! Try it! It is very easy! And very addictive :)

You can make it in the microwave too, just remember to stir every minute.

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon butter

optional topping : 1 package chocolate sprinkles


In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix the cocoa, butter and condensed milk.

Put over low heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest.

Let cool.
Butter your hands and roll the mixture into small balls and roll over the chocolate sprinkles.

You can use different toppings: granulated sugar, roasted coconut...

Here is another version of the story of the brigadeiro.

Camila from Rio de Janeiro, United States wrote:

"I love brigadeiros, but let me tell you this story might not be right. It is rumoured that this name was created by someone who didn't like Brigadeiro Eduardo Gomes very much... it's about the fact that he had lost one of his testicles during the war (he was shot). Then people during the elections called the candy "brigadeiro" because it doesn't need an egg and "egg" in Portuguese is a slang for "testicle".

Indonesian recipe : gado-gado

My favourite dish in Bali is gado-gado, a vegetable salad dressed in specially prepared peanut sauce.

For lunch, I usually go to a warung (snack) and have gado-gado with tempe, tofu and lontong!
Preparation of gado-gado is mainly the preparation of the peanut sauce, using cobek batu (Indonesian style stone pestle).
The pestle makes the peanuts not to become too soft and produce a certain kind of flavor which cannot be achieved by using blender or peanut butter. Using a pestle is not just crunching the peanuts but also mixes them with all other ingredients. To do pestling is not to pound but to grind and mix all ingredients together in circular hand movement with enough pressure to crush all ingredients. In Indonesia, this is called uleg or ulek, a technique used in making varieties of indonesian food.

Ingredients
Vegetables
100 g water spinach, boiled
100 g spinach, boiled
10 long bean, cut into small pieces then boil
1/2 chayote, peel then cut into small pieces (stick or cube shape) and boil
100 g bean sprouts, put in hot water

The peanut sauce (for each servings)
Chilli pepper (to taste)
2 clove of garlic
1/2 tea spoon fried terasi (shrimp paste)
1 tea spoon (or to taste) of salt
1 tea spoon (or to taste) coconout sugar or palm sugar (can be subtituted with brown sugar)
100 g peanut, deep fried
Water mixed with tamarind extract
Water

Additional ingredients
Deep fried tempe and tofu, cut into pieces
Deep fried emping (crackers made from gnetum gnemon)
Lontong (compressed rice roll) or rice.

Method
All prepartion is done in the cobek batu.
Pestle chilli pepper and garlic.
Add terasi, salt, coconut sugar, and the cashew nuts and peanuts.
Pestle more.
Add water and tamarind water little by little while keep on pestling until you get a thick sauce (don't put tamarind water too much, just put it to taste).
Add the vegetables (also add half egg, tofu, and tempe if you like). Mix it with the sauce.
Put into the plate
Pour a bit fried onion
Serve with emping and lontong (or rice).

Recipe from "http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Gado-gado"