Caruru is a Brazilian dish made with minced okra, onion, and shrimp, often used as a condiment or added to acarajé. It is traditionally cooked in Brazilian palm oil and often includes roasted peanuts or cashews. In other countries, it is served as a stew or gumbo with variations in ingredients.
Caruru is a dish that originated in Brazil and is sometimes served in other countries. The main ingredient is traditionally ocher, with onion, shrimp and roasted walnuts added in smaller quantities. This food is often used as a condiment rather than a main dish, but both ways of eating it are popular. In Brazilian cuisine, caruru is often added to acarajé, which are fried black-eyed peas normally sold as street food. Caruru is also a city in Colombia, but this place has no relation to the food of the same name.
Traditional caruru recipes typically call for minced okra, onion, and shrimp as the main ingredients. Some recipes call for equal parts okra and shrimp. For example, a pound of each is common in these recipes. Roasted peanuts, cashews, or both are added to give the dressing or a little crunch.
In other countries, such as the United States, caruru has many variations that are usually served alone as a full meal. Most often, it’s served as a stew or gumbo. Some Western recipes call for unsheathed okra, which eliminates the characteristic sticky texture of traditional caruru. Others add as many tomatoes as the dish has okra and shrimp. The main difference is that acarajé is a specific food of northeastern Brazil and Nigeria, so caruru is not usually eaten as a condiment in other regions of the world.
Larger ingredients are cooked separately before being combined to finish the dish. For example, ocher is seared with only spices like salt and pepper added to taste. Then the onion can be sauteed with other herbs, such as garlic and red pepper flakes. Once the shrimp, nuts and other ingredients are added, the food is usually simmered on the stove. These steps can differ greatly depending on the recipe, but once all the ingredients have been prepped, the dish usually takes less than 20 minutes to cook.
Caruru ingredients are normally cooked in dende oil, which is a Brazilian palm oil. Other cooking oils, such as West African palm oil, are too heavy to cook this dish. If Brazilian palm oil is not available, the cook can substitute half West African palm oil for vegetable oil. Some cooking oils, especially those commonly found in China, also reportedly work well for cooking these ingredients. However, there is no substitute for cooking oil to acquire the exact flavor of the traditional dish.
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