Farofa with Egg – Brazilian Cassava Side Dish
Farofa is the Brazilian side dish that belongs with feijoada and with churrasco: cassava flour toasted in butter, with egg and onion. Crisp, savoury, ready in 15 minutes, and the counterweight to everything juicy on the plate.
About the ingredient — and this is the point on which the recipe stands or falls. It has to be farinha de mandioca, cassava flour. Tapioca starch is not the same thing and does not work: it is pure starch and turns glassy and chewy when heated instead of crumbly. It comes in two forms and both work here: crua (raw) and torrada (pre-toasted). Since the flour gets toasted in the pan anyway, the raw kind simply takes a few minutes longer. Latin American and African grocers and online shops stock it, usually in 500 g bags.
The oil alongside the butter is not incidental — it raises the smoke point, so the butter does not burn while the flour toasts. It goes with the feijoada.
🔎 What is cassava flour? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 250 g cassava flour, farinha de mandioca (fine or coarse, as you prefer)
- 3 eggs
- 80 g butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil (so the butter does not burn)
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
- Scallions (spring onions) or fresh parsley, chopped
Method
- 1
In a large pan over medium heat, warm the oil and melt the butter in it. Soften the onion until translucent and just golden.
- 2
Turn the heat down a little and pour in the eggs, lightly beaten. Stir gently so they set but visible pieces remain — it should not become a uniform scramble. Do not let them dry out completely.
- 3
Add the cassava flour a little at a time. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon so the flour takes up the butter and the juices from the egg.
- 4
Carry on stirring over medium heat until the flour takes on a soft golden colour and feels crisp against the spoon: 3 to 5 minutes with pre-toasted flour, a few minutes longer with raw. The smell is the best guide — toasted cassava flour smells distinctly nutty.
- 5
Season and take it off the heat. Stir in the chopped scallions or parsley for freshness and colour.
- 6
Serve warm or at room temperature. It is ideal alongside red meat, chicken or the classic feijoada.