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Sekai Gohan
Cachorro-quente: Brazilian Hot Dog Simmered in Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable oil (óleo) | 1½ tbsp | For softening the vegetables |
| Medium onion (cebola média) | ½ | The sweet base of the sauce |
| Garlic (alho) | 1 clove | Aroma |
| Small green bell pepper (pimentão verde pequeno) | ½ | Fresh, green flavour |
| Medium tomato (tomate médio) | ½ | Tang and juice |
| Colorau | ½ tsp | Red colour |
| Salt (sal) | ½ tsp, level | Seasoning; adjust at the end |
| Parsley (salsinha), chopped | 1 tbsp | Fresh herb aroma |
| Black pepper (pimenta-do-reino) | ¼ tsp | Gentle heat |
| Smoked paprika (páprica defumada) | ½ tsp | Smoky depth |
| Beef or bacon bouillon cube (caldo de carne ou bacon), optional | ½ cube | Extra savouriness |
| Tomato sauce (molho de tomate) | 170 g | The body of the sauce |
| Water (água) | ½ cup (½ xícara de chá) | Lets the sauce simmer and reduce |
| Hot dog sausages (salsicha) | 5 | The centre of the dish |
| Hot dog buns (pão de cachorro-quente) | 5 | Holds sausage and sauce |
| Batata palha (thin crisp potato sticks) | to taste | Crunchy topping |
| Ketchup | to taste | Finishing |
| Mustard (mostarda) | to taste | Finishing |
Steps
1Dice the vegetables
Cut the onion, tomato and green pepper into small dice, keeping each in its own pile. Small, even pieces melt into the sauce and stay inside the bun when you bite. Crush or finely chop the garlic and chop the parsley, so both are ready before the pan heats. Move on when everything sits on the board in neat little cubes.
2Soften the onion and garlic
Heat the oil in a wide saucepan and add the onion. Stir for about 30 seconds, until it softens and turns glossy. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds more. It is ready when the garlic smells sweet and fragrant, before it takes on any brown colour.
3Add the pepper, tomato and spices
Add the green pepper and tomato and stir for about 2 minutes, until the tomato slumps and gives up its juice. Sprinkle in the colorau, salt, black pepper and smoked paprika, and crumble in the bouillon cube if you use it. Stir until the powders vanish into a brick-red base, then add the parsley last. You should smell smoke from the paprika rising over the sweetness of the onion.
4Simmer the sausages in the sauce
Pour in the tomato sauce and water, stir, and lay the sausages in whole. Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning the sausages now and then so every side sits in the sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt. It is done when the sauce has thickened enough to cling to a spoon and the sausages are hot all the way through.
5Fill the buns
Cut each bun open from the side, stopping short of cutting through, so it opens like a book with a hinge. Spoon 2 tbsp of sauce into each bun, then lay one sausage on top. Scoop from the bottom of the pan so the spoonful carries onion and pepper, not only liquid. The bun is right when the sauce settles into the hinge and the sausage rests snugly in it.
6Top and serve
Pile batata palha over the sauce and sausage, as much as you like. Finish with lines of ketchup and mustard. Serve right away, while the potato sticks still crackle against the warm sauce.