Virado a Paulista

Ingredients

• 500 g cooked carioca beans, with a little of their liquid
• 150 g fine cornmeal (fubá)
• 4 pork loin chops, about 180 g each
• 200 g pork belly, cut into small cubes
• 300 g collard greens, thick stems removed
• 4 eggs
• 2 firm bananas, halved lengthways
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp lard or oil
• 2 limes
• 300 g long-grain rice, cooked and hot
• Salt and black pepper

Before you cook

• Season the pork chops with the juice of one lime, half the garlic, salt and pepper and leave them for 20 minutes.
• Stack the collard leaves, roll them tightly and shred them as thinly as possible.
• Mash half the cooked beans roughly with a fork, leaving the rest whole.

Steps

1. Put the pork belly cubes in a cold dry pan and set it over medium heat.
2. Fry them for 18 minutes, until crisp and golden, then drain them on kitchen paper and keep the fat.
3. Cook one chopped onion and a third of the remaining garlic in two tablespoons of the pork fat for five minutes.
4. Add all the beans and bring them to a simmer.
5. Rain in the cornmeal in a thin stream, stirring hard, until the beans thicken into a soft porridge.
6. Cook the virado over low heat for eight minutes, stirring, then season it and set it aside covered.
7. Heat a tablespoon of lard in a frying pan over high heat.
8. Fry the pork chops for four minutes a side, until browned and just cooked through, then rest them on a warm plate.
9. Add the second onion and the rest of the garlic to the same pan and cook for three minutes.
10. Throw in the shredded collard and toss it over high heat for two minutes, until bright green.
11. Wipe the pan, add the last of the lard and fry the banana halves for two minutes a side, until caramelised.
12. Fry the eggs in the same pan until the whites are set and the yolks still soft.
13. Divide the hot rice and the virado between four warm plates.
14. Lay a chop, an egg, a banana half, a pile of greens and a scattering of crackling on each plate and serve.