Cabbage bambá is essence of Minas for Tiradentes holiday – 04/17/2023 – Recipes by Marcão

If the weather forecast is right, São Paulo will have the first really cold days of 2023 on this holiday in Tiradentes. Time to start eating more sustenance, to comfort and warm.

When I saw that it was getting cold, my first idea was to make a broth, one of my favorite soups. But then I remembered the nature of the holiday and decided to refine the recipe.

Let’s go, then, with kale bamba — more or less the same thing as the green broth, just replacing the potato with cornmeal.

There are a few ways to see the kale baby bump. One of them is the one I just explained, a Minas Gerais version of Portuguese broth.

From the point of view of cuisine in Minas, the bamba is a angu full of goodness and, generally, thinner.

From whatever angle you look at the recipe, it brings together three fundamental elements of mineiridade: corn, cabbage and pork. You can put cheese on top too, I’m sure it turns out great.

The pork can be smoked sausage or paio, it can be ribs, it can be anything that also fits in a feijoada. I decided to make it with bacon and fresh country sausage.

Bamboo recipes usually call for broth (beef, chicken or vegetables) to dissolve the cornmeal. Homemade broth makes the flavor more intense, but it can be replaced with water (I am radically against cube broth).

A possible workaround is to use pork ribs. You debone the piece, braise the meat and reserve. Then cook the bone for an hour, before adding the cornmeal, to make a broth right there.

Bamba’s consistency can vary from a creamy soup to a thick porridge. You can adjust this to taste, stirring the proportion of broth and cornmeal — which you should add little by little, as it takes a while to thicken while cooking. I like the thick baba.

One important thing is to leave to adjust the salt only at the end of the preparation. Sausages and smoked meats come already salted and a heavy hand from the cook can ruin everything.

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CABBAGE BAMBA

Performance: two servings

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients

200 g of chopped bacon

200 g of chopped sausage

4 minced garlic cloves

800 ml broth (beef, chicken or vegetable) or water

50 g cornmeal or corn flour (approximately ten tablespoons)

6 to 8 hand torn kale leaves

salt to taste

Way of doing

1. Fry the bacon and sausage in their own fat until golden and crispy. Add the garlic and sauté for a minute.

2. Add broth or water. As soon as it starts to boil, gradually add the cornmeal, stirring constantly to avoid lumps until reaching the desired consistency. If necessary, adjust the salt.

3. Turn off the heat, add the shredded cabbage and mix well. Serve immediately.

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