Slow cooker feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew)

ingredients

• • 4 rashers smoked bacon
  • 700 gram boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 3cm cubes
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • 4 bone-in beef short ribs or other meaty beef or pork ribs, trimmed of fat
  • 2 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight
  • 1 smoked ham or bacon hock
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 whole chillies
  • 3 or 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 small bunch coriander or parsley, to serve

method

• • 1

    Cook bacon in a frypan over medium heat until crisp. Remove from pan and add to your slow-cooker. Return the frypan to the heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add pork to pan and cook for 6 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.

  • 2

    Transfer browned pork to slow-cooker. I like to do this in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan. Season the ribs evenly with salt and a few grinds of pepper. Add ribs to frypan and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in slow cooker.

  • 3

    Add the drained beans, hock, onions, garlic, chillies, chicken stock (enough to cover everything), coriander, bay leaves and vinegar to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until beans and meat are tender.

  • 4

    Sprinkle generously with coriander or parsley and serve with rice.

notes

• If you’re planning to make this in the morning before work, you’ll need to soak the beans the night before and brown the meat to save time in the morning. It is very nice served with a slice of orange. You can remove all the bones if you wish, but I like to leave it as is.