Feijao Tropeiro

Ingredients

• 500 g cooked carioca or pinto beans, well drained
• 200 g smoked bacon, cut into small cubes
• 200 g linguica calabresa, sliced into half moons
• 150 g pork belly, cut into small cubes
• 4 eggs
• 200 g coarse cassava flour (farinha de mandioca)
• 250 g collard greens, thick stems removed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp lard or oil
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Drain the cooked beans thoroughly in a colander and leave them to dry for ten minutes.
• Stack the collard leaves, roll them into a tight cigar and shred them as finely as you can.
• Beat the eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt.

Steps

1. Put the pork belly cubes in a cold dry frying pan and set it over medium heat.
2. Fry the pork for fifteen minutes, until the fat has rendered and the cubes are crisp.
3. Lift the crackling out onto kitchen paper.
4. Add the bacon to the rendered fat and fry it for five minutes, until browned.
5. Add the sliced sausage and fry for another four minutes.
6. Scoop the bacon and sausage out and set them aside with the crackling.
7. Pour off all but three tablespoons of the fat from the pan.
8. Cook the onion and garlic in the remaining fat for four minutes, until pale gold.
9. Pour in the beaten eggs and scramble them roughly for one minute.
10. Tip in the drained beans and stir gently for three minutes so they warm through without breaking.
11. Return the bacon and sausage to the pan and season with salt and pepper.
12. Sprinkle in the cassava flour a handful at a time, stirring after each addition, until the beans look coated and sandy rather than wet.
13. Heat the lard in a second frying pan over high heat.
14. Fry the shredded collard for two minutes, until bright green and just wilted.
15. Fold the collard, spring onions and parsley through the beans.
16. Scatter the crisp pork over the top and serve straight away with plain rice.