ENTRY: tapioca (1)
CLASS: noun
EQUIVALENT: tapioca
DEFINITION: A crepe-like dish prepared with moist manioc starch, eaten plain, with butter or filled with savory or sweet ingredients.
EXAMPLE: With the heat, the mixture will cohere into a thick pancake. Lower the heat and flip the pancake to cook the other side.
SOURCE: Brasil: Gastronomia, Cultura e Turismo
COMMENT: A genuinely Brazilian delicacy, tapioca was originally a food of the natives and became very popular in the North and Northeast, where it usually substitutes bread during breakfast. Very versatile, the basic recipe (the manioc starch is moistened, sieved and sprinkled onto a hot pan so that the starchy grains fuse into a flatbread) is folded or rolled and, due to its almost neutral flavor, may receive sweet or savory fillings such as grated coconut, curd cheese, shredded jerked beef, banana etc. Besides being fat-, gluten- and sugar-free, tapioca is very nutritious. Nowadays, it is possible to find ready-to-use moist manioc starch for tapioca at supermarkets.