Brazilian-inspired sausage and beans


Sometimes I find a recipe that looks great and I want to try it. When it comes to actually cooking it, I end up swapping so many of the ingredients that the result may visually resemble the original dish, but probably tastes nothing like it. This was one of those.

Why were most ingredients swapped? For various reasons. Let's see...

  • Carioca beans, which could be substituted for pinto beans - I don't like any of those, so I opted for less offensive black eyed beans. Even so, the dish tasted rather beany.
  • Collard greens - As they are part of the cabbage family, I decided on savoy cabbage, but the supermarket substituted my order for sweetheart cabbage. It worked well.
  • Calabresa sausages, which could be substituted for chorizo and that's what I used.
  • Thick bacon - I decided on a less fatty option and used thinly sliced smoked ham instead.
  • Toasted manoic flour - I had no idea what that was, but as it was used to soak up the liquid, I thought couscous would do the same trick. It would also add carbs to the meal and make it more substantial.
  • Chopped parsley - I only had dried parsley at home, after successfully having killed the plant I had in the window.
See, perfectly valid reasons for the substitutes. Even though I swapped a lot, I did use a few of the original ingredients: bay leaves, water, olive oil, onion, garlic, eggs, salt and pepper.

Anyway, I may have totally changed the dish, but it was still really nice and I'd happily make it again.  Yes, it was rather beany and I'm not a fan of beans, but I still liked it. Next time I may use a spicy chorizo or add a bit of chilli to make it a little more interesting, but it was a perfectly tasty meal. Should you want to try this version and want to make it low carb, add less water and cut the couscous out. It will still be a filling dinner.




1. Get the ingredients out.

I used half of the cabbage, half of the chorizo and all of the ham, which was half a packet.


2. Chop the onion and garlic.


3. Dice the chorizo and ham.


4. Soften the onion and add the garlic.


5. Add the chorizo and cook until done.


6. Chop the cabbage.


7. While the chorizo is cooking, scramble the eggs in another frying pan.


8. Add some water to the chorizo and onion mixture. 

In total I added 1.5 pint (750 ml), some now and more later on.


9. Add the ham and cabbage and mix well.


10. While the cabbage is cooking, add the drained beans and mix well..


11. By now the eggs should be scrambled. Set aside.


12. Sprinkle the couscous over the pan and stir to ensure it blends with the liquid. 
Season with salt and pepper.


13. Leave to cook until the couscous is ready.

This is when I had to add a bit more water.


14. Add the scrambled eggs and finish off with spring onion and parsley.


15. Dish up and enjoy.

This meal was packed with protein and in hindsight, the couscous wasn't needed. Saying that, I love couscous and happily eat it even if it isn't needed. At least now I know that I have options and can adapt the dish to suit the dinner guests. Did it taste Brazilian? I have no idea, but I liked it.

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