Brazilian cookery is strongly influenced by African origins. Although the Portuguese and native peoples contributed a great deal to the origins of Brazilian cooking, the African influence brought with it herbs and spices unknown to the New World. Typical Portuguese dishes were changed to suit the new tastes of the growing influence. Dishes that included codfish, olive oil and eggs, tomatoes and seasoning now had coconut milk added.The olive oil was replaced by dende oil and cashew nuts replaced the codfish.
The main ingredients used lavishly in Afro-Brazilian cooking is dende oil, malagueta pepper and coconut milk. Dende oil is a heavy, dense oil of a yellowish color. It is found all over Brazil, but its origin falls to the State of Bahia.
Malagueta pepper is a small, hot aromatic pepper and is considered indispensible. Other spices used in Brazilian cooking included pepper of different types, ginger, pounded melon and pumpkin seeds, palm and coconut oil, garlic and the leaves of the capeba plant as well as the herb of the amaranth family.
With these ingredients Brazilian prepare sauces such as Dende oil and vinegar, pepper and lemon, Nago sauce which are served with codfish with coconut milk, rice, and stews.
Brazilian cooking is aromatic, often intense in flavor and texture,and a creation of cultures that span centuries.
