Keyla Nogueira
As the year comes to a close, it’s time to gather family and friends around the table and delight in traditional holiday treats.
In November, there’s Thanksgiving, in Portuguese “Dia de Ação de Graças”, this is a holiday that is not celebrated in Brazil, but I must mention that we also have our turkey roasting tradition as well, but for us it’s on Christmas. Different from American households, where turkey will be accompanied by a variety of side dishes like green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, collard greens, and even the famous mac and cheese, we serve it with rice, farofa, potato salad, and sometimes lentils. For dessert, instead of pies, we will have flan, passion fruit mousse, french toast, and panettone of course.
Then in December, it’s time to celebrate Christmas or other holidays like Kwanzaa in the African-American tradition and Hanukkah for Jewish people. No matter the celebration, you can be sure there will be plenty of good food on the table. And since I love cooking for this season, in this edition I’m sharing some of my favorite dishes to add a Brazilian twist to your holiday season abroad:
Farofa – Rabanada (French Toast) – Flan – Passion Fruit Mousse – Lentils – Potato Salad – Panetonne – Chicken Salad
