Tapiocas

Tapiocas with queijo de coalho and minestrone.

A tapioca is a really delicious northeastern Brazilian food made from cassava starch (as are the more familiar tapioca pearls used in pudding), and queijo de coalho (a cheese from the region) sautéed in butter is a popular thing to wrap or fold into a tapioca. In Brazil, I have had these for breakfast, as a snack (obligatory if you visit Olinda), and with dinner. Since the goma used to make them isn’t available here, I occasionally go to the trouble of making my own from frozen grated cassava from an asian grocery (the cassava pulp itself I use for a cake). The cheese is very difficult to find outside Brazil, but I managed to find a passable version made in the US. The accompanying soup is from a can.