Vegan Feijoada, pressed portobello mushrooms in a rich black bean stew with vegan chorizo. Delicious served with white rice and fresh orange segments.
Serving Vegan Feijoada
We love serving Feijoada with some Brazilian White Rice and Brazilian Tomato Vinaigrette. The vinaigrette adds a nice freshness to the dish that cuts through the richness of the stew. It’s also traditional to have Feijoada with segments of fresh orange. You might not be used to fresh fruit with a rich stew but they act like the vinaigrette and help cut through the richness of the sauce.
It’s also traditional to have a side dish of Farofa which is toasted cassava flour. If you can get your hands on this it makes a wonderful addition. We left it out of the recipe because the correct kind of cassava flour can be hard to find.
Vegan Chorizo, the traditional dish usually has large quantities of meat in it. We decided to use vegan chorizo to add protein to the dish. Feel free to change this to your favourite vegan sausage or even use something like smoked tofu.
We have recipes for Brazilian White Rice and Brazilian Tomato Vinaigrette.
Pressed Mushrooms
To get the best texture when cooking the portobello mushrooms, it is a good idea to make sure all of the liquid is cooked out of the mushrooms. This will give the mushrooms a meaty texture perfect for this stew. We find the best way to press mushrooms is to use a flat bottomed metal potato masher. This is a completely optional step but we believe it’s worth it.
Vegan Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew)
Ingredients
- 350 g dry black beans
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 280 g vegan chorizo or other vegan sausage (optional)
- 500 g portobello mushrooms
- 2 medium onions diced
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon hot smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 650 ml vegan beef stock
- 1 large carrot cut into bite-sized pieces
- Salt to taste
To Serve
- 1 large orange
- Brazilian White Rice
- Brazilian Tomato Vinaigrette
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash and pick through the dried black beans. Soak them in a fridge for at least 8 hours. Overnight works best.
- Clean the portobello mushrooms and cut them into large bite-size pieces.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once hot add the vegan chorizo and cook until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside for later.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the remaining vegetable oil. Once hot add the portobello mushrooms and stir to coat them in the oil. Let the mushrooms cook, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been released. This will take 10 to 15 minutes.
- Optional step: to remove more liquid from the mushrooms and to give them a meatier texture they can be pressed using a flat bottomed potato masher.
- Once the portobello mushrooms are cooked and all the liquid has cooked off remove them from the pan and reserve for later.
- Turn the heat down to medium and add the diced onions and gently saute until beginning to turn translucent, around 4 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and continue to saute for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for a further minute.
- Drain and rinse the black beans that have been soaking overnight. Add them to the pan with the bay leaves, hot smoked paprika, freshly cracked black pepper and vegan beef stock. The water level should be at least 4cm above the beans, add more water if needed.
- Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook the beans for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Fill up with more water if needed. Always keep the level of water above the beans.
- Add the carrots to the pan when there are 40 minutes left.
- At the end of the 2 hours check that the beans are soft enough. They should be slightly overcooked and easily crushed. Continue to cook for longer if needed.
- Using a potato masher roughly mash about a quarter of the beans to make a thick sauce.
- Add the cooked portobello mushrooms and vegan chorizo. The chorizo can be kept whole or cut into chunks.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. The amount of salt in the stock will determine how much salt you will need to add. We had to add ½ teaspoon of salt.
- Serve with Brazilian White Rice, freshly sliced orange and some Brazilian Tomato Vinaigrette for freshness.
