Açaí (Euterpe Oleracea) is one of nature’s most exciting new foods and has only been available on our markets since the 1990’s – not to say that it didn’t existed before because it has been around for thousands of years. The fruit (a drupe) is a small round dark purple berry that has a large seed and not much pulp and it tastes like a combination of nuts, berries and chocolate without sugar. Intensive studies have shown that this little berry is one of the most nutritious, antioxidant rich foods in the world! It grows on a palm tree, one of several species of palm tree that are cultivated for the  berries and the hearts.

The demand for açaí has increased very rapidly over the past few years and production is brisk. Açaí palms are tall and become as tall as 15–30 meters with pinnate leaves that can become 3 meters long.

AÇAÍ AND RED WINE CHICKEN

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp shallots, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped thyme, chopped finely
• 100 ml açai berry pulp, thawed
• 125 ml red wine – preferably a merlot
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Season the chicken with salt and pepper and set aside until the saucepan is hot.
• Sear chicken on one side until the skin is dark brown and crispy and then reduce the heat to medium, cooking the chicken for about 15 minutes, with the lid on, shaking the pan every now and then so that the skin doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Lift it out of the pan, remove the bottom (if you didn’t remove it before cooking) and flip the meat over to cook on the other side as well until the juices run clear – about 8 – 10 minutes, depending on the size of the breast.
• Remove the chicken from the saucepan and set aside.
• In same saucepan, sweat the shallots until they are translucent and then add the thyme and the garlic and stir-fry for about a minute.
• Deglaze the saucepan with the açai pulp, the wine and the vinegar and check and correct the seasoning.
• Drizzle sauce over chicken to serve.

The berries are harvested and used as food by local populations like the traditional Caboclo populations in the Amazon region of Brazil who use it as a major component of their diet (up to 42% of the total food intake by weight). In the rest of the world, the berries are used to make a host of different juice blends, really delicious colourful smoothies, soft drinks and even a range of new liqueurs. For day to day use in modern society the freeze dried powder can be stirred into many dishes, improving and enriching and giving an interesting new flavour to old favourites whilst simultaneously making it much healthier. In northern Brazil, açaí is traditionally served in gourds called “cuias” with tapioca and is eaten either as a sweet dish or a salty one. Açaí has become popular in southern Brazil the preference is for eating it cold with granola (açaí na tigela) or  as an ice cream flavour or a juice.

The Açaí berry has been around for thousands of years – it was used by the tribes of the Amazon jungle as a cure for various sicknesses and there are many legends attached to the berry. Once upon a time there was a young girl called Iaca, the daughter of a chief. Because his tribe had grown so big, there wasn’t any more food left and he decreed that all newborn babies be killed. When Iaca gave birth, he made no exception and had the baby killed as well – she mourned for days until, one night, she heard a baby cry and ran to find it. She saw her baby daughter lying under a tree with purple fruit and ran to her baby, picked it up and sat there crying and holding her baby. The next day, when Iaca had seemingly vanished, the king sent his men out to find her – they did but she was dead, her arms around the trunk of the tree, she was holding the trunk and looking up into the centre of the tree. As can be expected, the king so distraught over the loss of his daughter and ordered that the infanticide to end. He named the purple fruited tree Açaí, for his departed daughter – it is Iaca backwards. The king moved the entire population to the area around the tree and the tribe became more energetic as they ate the fruit and lived long, healthy lives. Today, the Açaí berries are recommended to sportsmen and women and when taken with guaraná, it becomes a natural energy booster.

AÇAÍ AND LENTIL PASTA

Ingredients

• 100g large green or brown lentils, rinsed
• 100g dry pasta, any rigate shapes (like penne)
• 2 tbsp freeze-dried acai powder
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 5 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 handful fresh basil, ripped
• 6-7 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Fry the onion rings until they are dark golden and caramelised, stirring often and set aside.
• Boil the lentils in plenty of salted water until just tender and remove from the pot, straining through a colander and pour into a large saucepan, adding the acai, the garlic, the tomatoes, half the basil and some olive oil – season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente and toss gently with lentils, the remaining basil little salt and freshly ground black pepper, top with the fried onions and serve hot.

Guaraná (Paullinia cupana) is a climbing plant that belongs to the maple family native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. It has very large leaves with clusters of flowers and it’s fruit, the size of a coffee berry is the part of the plant that we know as guaraná. It’s a very effective energy booster and has twice the caffeine content of coffee beans. The colour of the guaraná ranges from brown to red and contains black seeds that are partly covered by white arils and when the fruit has been split open, it looks just like an eye staring out in front of it.

The fruit is important in the Tupi and Guaraní Brazilian culture and many myths surround it. One of the myths, date back to the Sateré-Maué tribe who believe that guaraná’s domestication began when a god killed a much-loved child from the village.  In order to console the villagers, a more benevolent god plucked the left eye from the child and planted it in the forest – from whence the wild guaraná grew. He then plucked the right eye from the child and planted it in the village, giving rise to the domesticated guaraná. The same myth is also told slightly differently – a beautiful Indian woman named Onhiamuacabe gave birth to a child sired by a mysterious being. This child was killed for eating some forbidden nuts, and at his burial site, a guaraná bush grew from his eye. According to the myth, the bush also brought forth a child from whom the Maue tribe descended. The Indians considered the seeds to be, not only a stimulant, but also an aphrodisiac and a means of prolonging life – so they roasted and ground the seeds, mixed them with manioc (cassava) meal and rolled the resulting paste into sticks, which were allowed to harden. Using the rough-surfaced tongue of the piraruc fish as a grater, they broke off small pieces of the dried guaraná paste and rehydrated them in water to make a drink. Today it’s available in a many forms and found just about everywhere – just go into any local soft drink shop and pick up a couple of cans of guaraná enriched drinks – or is there someone that doesn’t know Red Bull?

AÇAÍ LAMB RISSOLES

Ingredients

• 225g cooked lamb, minced
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 heaped tbsp acai, freeze dried powder
• 1 red onion, very finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 small free-range egg
• Flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp light extra virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Put all the ingredients, except the flour and the oil, into a large bowl and mix well, dividing the meat mixture into six and rolling into balls.
• Dredge each meatball in the seasoned flour.
• Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the rissoles, frying each one until they are golden brown all over.
• Serve immediately.

The guaraná plant was introduced to western civilization in the 17th century following its discovery by Father Felip Betendorf and by 1958 it was commercialized.

Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum) image above, is a tropical rainforest tree related to Cacao and is commonly found throughout the Amazon basin – it’s widely cultivated in the north of Brazil, with the largest production in Pará, followed by Amazonas, Rondônia and Acre. The trees usually grow to about 15 – 20 meters and have brown barks. As they mature, their leaves change from pink-tinted to green and eventually they begin bearing fruit which are oblong, brown and fuzzy.  The white pulp of the cupuaçu has a unique fragrance and is often used in desserts, juices and sweets.

SUSHISAMBA RIO’S SAMBA JUICE.

Ingredients

• 30 ml Bacardi Razz
• 15 ml Bacardi Grand Melon
• 30 ml acai puree
• 15 ml passion fruit puree
• 15 ml creme de banana
• 30 ml guava juice

Method

• Shake well and serve in a wineglass