P
Brazilian
Bobó de Camarão
Bobó de camarão is Bahia's creamy shrimp stew — large prawns cooked in a thick, golden purée of cassava (mandioca), coconut milk, dendê palm oil, and aromatics (onion, garlic, tomato, coriander, and ginger). It is the Afro-Brazilian synthesis of Yoruba cariru (okra-based stew) with the cassava of the indigenous Tupi tradition and the coconut milk of West African cooking. The cassava is first boiled until tender, then mashed or blended into the coconut milk to create the thick, starchy base that makes bobó de camarão both a stew and a grain preparation simultaneously. The prawns are added at the very end and cooked for no more than 3 minutes — the creamy base provides all the heat and flavour they need.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
800 g
fresh cassava (mandioca)
peeled, cut into large chunks
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
600 g
large raw prawns
shell-on weight; peeled and deveined
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
400 ml
full-fat coconut milk
Your own market
60 ml
dendê palm oil
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 large
onion
finely chopped
Your own market
4 cloves
garlic
finely chopped
Your own market
2 medium
20 g
fresh coriander
roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
15 g
1 tsp
fine sea salt
plus more to taste
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the cassava chunks in a large saucepan and cover generously with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or longer until completely tender throughout. The cassava is ready when a skewer meets no resistance at the centre and the flesh appears opaque and soft with no chalky core.
2
Drain the cassava. Remove and discard the fibrous central cord that runs through each piece. Transfer the flesh to a blender, add the coconut milk, and blend until completely smooth. Pass the purée through a coarse sieve, pressing with a spatula to remove any fibrous threads that resist blending. The finished purée should be thick, glossy, and uniformly smooth.
3
Warm the dendê palm oil in a wide, heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a further minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and cook until they collapse into the base. The aromatics are ready when the mixture is cohesive and the raw tomato smell has given way to a sweeter, deeper note.
4
Pour the cassava-coconut purée into the pan with the aromatics. Stir thoroughly to combine. Bring gently to a simmer over a medium-low heat, stirring frequently to prevent the starchy base from catching. Add the coriander and season with salt. The base is ready when it coats the back of a spoon in a thick, uniform layer and the colour is an even orange-gold throughout.
5
This is where the dish lives or dies. Add the prawns to the hot base and cook for no more than 3 minutes, turning them once. Remove the pan from the heat the moment the prawns are just opaque and pink through to their centres — they will continue to cook in the residual heat of the base. Prawns left beyond this point become rubbery and the dish is unrecoverable.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Wild-caught large Atlantic prawns, fresh cassava dug within the week, single-origin dendê palm oil of traceable Bahian provenance, and fresh-pressed full-fat coconut milk.
02
Estate — Fresh-farmed large prawns of known origin, fresh cassava from a reliable supplier, imported Brazilian dendê palm oil, and canned full-fat coconut milk of high fat content.
03
Market — Sustainably farmed prawns, fresh cassava where available or frozen cassava as a secondary option, standard dendê palm oil, and good-quality canned coconut milk.
04
House — Frozen peeled prawns, frozen cassava (texture will compromise the body of the base), standard dendê palm oil. Canned cassava must be avoided: its texture alters the starch body of the bobó irrecoverably.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A skewer passes through the centre of the cassava without resistance and the flesh shows no chalky core.
◇Sight. The strained purée is thick, glossy, and uniformly smooth, with no visible fibrous threads.
◇Smell. The raw tomato note in the aromatic base has given way to a sweeter, deeper cooked smell.
◇Sight. The finished base coats the back of a spoon in a thick, even layer of uniform orange-gold.
◇Sight. The prawns are just opaque and evenly pink through to their centres — the signal to remove the pan from the heat immediately.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish is decided in the final 3 minutes: the prawns must be pulled from the heat the instant they turn opaque and pink, as residual heat in the base continues to cook them and there is no correction for overcooked shellfish.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
Sourced through Provenance