Baião de Dois

Ingredients

• 300 g white rice, rinsed until the water runs clear
• 480 g kidney beans, drained with the liquid reserved
• 2 chourico, cut into thick coins
• 200 g halloumi, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp cassava flour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 20 g butter
• 2 bay leaf
• 5 dl water
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp spring onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Method

1. 1.

   Make the toasted farofa — Set a wide heavy pot over medium heat and toast the cassava flour dry, stirring without pause, until it smells nutty and turns the colour of wet sand, about 3 minutes. Tip it onto a plate — it burns in seconds if you walk away.

2. 2.

   Brown the sausage and cheese — Add the olive oil to the same pot and fry the chourico coins until the edges crisp and the fat runs orange, about 5 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, then brown the halloumi cubes in that coloured fat until golden on two sides and set them aside with the sausage.

3. 3.

   Sweat the aromatics and coat the rice — Cook the onion in the remaining fat until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes, then add the garlic for a final minute. Stir in the rinsed rice and the butter and toast for 2 minutes, until every grain is coated and glistening.

4. 4.

   Moisten with the bean broth — Measure the reserved bean liquid and top it up with the water to make 650 ml. Pour it in with the bay leaf, salt and black pepper and bring the pot to a rolling boil, scraping the base so nothing sticks.

5. 5.

   Steam the rice covered — Cover, drop to the lowest heat and cook for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. The rice is done when the liquid has gone and small craters have opened across the surface.

6. 6.

   Fold in the beans and rest — Off the heat, fold in the drained beans, the chourico and half the halloumi, then cover again and let the pot stand for 5 minutes so the beans warm through and the cheese softens at the edges.

7. 7.

   Fluff and finish with herbs — Fluff the rice with a fork, fish out the bay leaf and fold through the spring onion and cilantro. Scatter the remaining halloumi and the toasted cassava flour over the top and take the pot straight to the table.