Pé de Moleque Baiano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •8-inch square baking pan
• •Box grater or food processor with fine grating disk
• •Small saucepan
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Clean kitchen cloth for squeezing cassava
• •Parchment paper or banana leaf

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pan

   Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter an 8-inch square pan. Line it with parchment, or with a softened banana leaf if you have one. The lining helps you lift the sweet out cleanly, because cassava sets firm and likes to cling to corners. If using banana leaf, pour hot water over it or pass it quickly over low heat until it bends without cracking.

2. 2

   Grate the cassava

   Peel the cassava, split it lengthwise, and pull out the tough center core. Grate the flesh on the fine holes of a box grater, or use the fine grating disk of a processor. You want wet, fluffy shreds, not chunks. Big pieces stay tough in the bake, and then you'll think the recipe failed when the grater was the lazy one.

   Buy sweet cassava, mandioca mansa or aipim, sold for cooking. Don't use bitter cassava at home, and don't taste raw cassava. It belongs cooked, fully and properly.
3. 3

   Control the moisture

   Gather the grated cassava in a clean cloth and squeeze only until it stops dripping. It should still feel moist and clump in your hand. Too much water makes a gummy center; too much squeezing gives you a dry, sulky sweet. We want dense, not heavy as punishment.

4. 4

   Make the syrup

   Put the rapadura, water, and cloves in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the rapadura melts, then simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, just until glossy and pourable. Take it off the heat, fish out the cloves, and let it cool until warm, not hot. Syrup spreads sweetness through every strand of cassava; dry sugar leaves sandy pockets.

5. 5

   Mix the batter

   In a large bowl, mix the grated cassava, coconut, cinnamon, salt, and fennel seeds if using. Pour in the warm syrup, coconut milk, beaten eggs, and melted butter. Stir until the mixture looks thick, shiny, and evenly wet, with no dry cassava hiding at the bottom. The eggs and coconut milk help the sweet set without turning chalky.

6. 6

   Settle the pan

   Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and press it into the corners with a spatula. Tap the pan twice on the counter. This pushes out empty pockets, so the squares bake dense and even instead of cracking around dry gaps. Smooth the top, but don't fuss. This is tabuleiro food, not a manicure.

7. 7

   Bake to point

   Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until the top is dark brown and glossy, the edges pull slightly from the pan, and a skewer pushed into the center comes out with moist crumbs, not wet paste. Don't chase a dry skewer. Cassava sweets should stay moist, or you've baked the life out of them.

8. 8

   Cool and cut

   Let the pan cool for at least 1 hour before lifting the sweet out and cutting it into 16 squares. Warm cassava starch is still settling, and if you rush it the squares smear instead of slice. Serve at room temperature. The next day, when the rapadura and clove have settled into the crumb, it's even better.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh grated cassava gives the best texture. Frozen grated cassava is the honest Tuesday shortcut: thaw it completely, squeeze off extra water, and use the same 4 cups. It works, but you lose some of the fresh, grassy smell.
• •Rapadura is not just sweetness. It brings dark cane flavor and that deep color. Dark brown sugar works when rapadura is nowhere to be found, but the result is flatter. Use it without drama and know the cost.
• •Use fresh or frozen unsweetened coconut if you can. Sweetened dried coconut makes the sweet too sugary and dry, and coconut milk powder is not the same thing as coconut milk. Powder can sit this one out.
• •The banana leaf is aroma, not costume. Use it if you can find a good fresh sheet. Parchment is fine for a home kitchen, just less fragrant.
• •This sweet does not use dendê; its color is rapadura and clove. In the savory Afro-Baiana dishes that do call for azeite de dendê, annatto in sunflower oil is not a shortcut, it's erasure. Use real dendê there, and don't fake color here.
• •Cut it only after it cools. I know. Waiting is boring. But hot cassava tears, and then you'll be standing there with crumbs and regret, which I have done for you already.

Advance Preparation

• •Bake the pé de moleque up to 2 days ahead. Cool completely, wrap tightly, and keep at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
• •Grate the cassava up to 24 hours ahead and refrigerate it covered. Squeeze off any extra liquid before mixing.
• •The rapadura syrup can be made up to 3 days ahead. Refrigerate it, then warm gently until pourable before using.
• •For clean slices, chill the baked sweet for 30 minutes after it cools, then cut and bring the squares back to room temperature before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 90g)