Vatapa

How to Make Vatapa

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1. Soak the bread in the coconut milk for 10 minutes.

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2. Blend the soaked bread, peanuts, cashews, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, chilli, dried shrimp and water to a smooth paste.

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3. Pour into a wide pot and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, for 20 minutes until thick.

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4. Stir in the palm oil, salt and prawns and cook for 5 minutes. Add the lime juice and coriander and serve.

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A Few Pointers

• Stir constantly to avoid sticking.
• Add the palm oil near the end.
• Serve over white rice.

Changing the Recipe

• If coconut is a problem, a cooking cream (dairy or plant-based) can stand in for the coconut milk in a sauce; the dish will lose the coconut flavour and taste noticeably different.
• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

Serve It With

White rice · Farofa · Malagueta pepper sauce · Fried acarajé

Storage

Keeps in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat gently with a splash of water.

The Numbers per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.