Chef Rodrigo Oliveira, one of the most respected Chefs in Brazil, led the third live cooking show in a series of six, each focusing on one of Brazil's different biomes. This time, the Brazil Pavilion of Expo 2020 Dubai hosted a live cooking show that showcased the cuisine, ingredients and flavors of Brazil's semi-arid north-eastern Caatinga region to visitors.
Chef Rodrigo is the owner of the famous restaurant Mocotó, founded as a small store in 1973 by his father, Jose de Almeida. Mocotó serves "sertaneja" food and is located in Vila Medeiros, in the north zone of São Paulo. It is currently listed as one of the best restaurants in Latin America by the UK Magazine 'Restaurant' and has been awarded the label of ‘Bib Gourmand’ by the Michelin Guide.
Over the past two decades, Chef Rodrigo has introduced north-eastern flavors into Brazilian haute cuisine, earning him the "Revelation Chef Award" in 2008. He has already been considered one of the 100 most influential Brazilians, chef of the year, and gastronomic personality of the year.
Besides his many accolades, Chef Rodrigo Oliveira is famous for his invention of the simple yet delicious, crispy, juicy and cheesy Brazilian snack, Dadinhos de Tapioca. The snack, now a staple across restaurants in Brazil, was an accidental discovery.
It happened when young Rodrigo was still at culinary school way back in 2004. While on an exploratory cooking journey seeking to make a new recipe Mocotó, which Chef Rodrigo’s father was running at the time, he mixed tapioca with milk, Minas cheese, eggs and butter. A
distracted Rodrigo forgot the mixture on the baking sheet, which made the dough harden. But, instead of throwing away the hardened dough the next day, he had a moment of inspiration: he decided to cut it into cubes and fry it. This led to the first version of Dadinhos de Tapioca, which obviously went through further refinement to be the scrumptious dish that it is now.
Loosely translated, Dadinhos de Tapioca means ' little tapioca and cheese dice.' It is a culinary innovation - a dish that adds fuel to the current comeback trend that tapioca is making in the global cooking world.
Hosted by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), the Caatinga Biome Cooking Show was the third in a series of six such events, each one representing the food of a different biome of Brazil.
The different biomes in Brazil are famous for being home to many healthy ingredients that add a rich flavor to Brazilian cuisine - amongst those are Açai, which many believe comes from the USA but actually originates from Brazil. All these authentic food ingredients of the South American country will be at the upcoming Gulfood expo from February 13-17, 2022, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Follow all the action from Brazil Pavilion in the following links
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/BrazilPavilion/