Pão de Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Buns

picture taken at El Rodizio, Madrid-Spain (12/25/07)

Last year, i had the BEST Christmas dinner EVER! JLo and I were in Madrid, and my aunt (who has been to Madrid a zillion times) made reservations for us at "El Rodizio" restruant. This place isn't just any ordinary res truant-- it was a Brazilian barbecue buffet (emphasizing on "Brazilian" and "buffet", haha). Back in Paraguay, we used to go to Brazilian barbecues almost all the time. What makes Brazilian buffets special is that the food comes to you rather than having to get up 2-3 times throughout the meal. There's tons of waiters walking around from table to table with huge skewers of meat (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3, picture 4). They serve different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo sausages...etc, and they ALL taste DIVINE! If you're not a meat person, no worries, you can always pig out at their crazy salad bar + Brazilian food buffet (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3). I can honestly say, without the slightest speck of hesitation, that South American barbecues are THE BEST. I can't even find words to describe how great it is so I'll stop here. Back to my Christmas dinner at "El Rodizio"-- I had like 3 rounds of buffet food... and what i mostly got were these cheese breads called: Pan de Queso (in Spanish), Pão de Queijo (in Portuguese), or Cheese buns (in English). I was overwhelmed with joy when i saw these. Ohhh, the good old Paraguayan days when i would pop these little buns like Skittles. Sigh... I couldn't help the nostalgia so I searched up a recipe and made them myself. And ohhh gosh... they tasted just like home :)

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso
from brazilcook.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup tapioca or manioc starch(225 grams)
  (i used potato starch)
• 1 egg
• 100g of grated Parmesan cheese
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring to boil in a big pan the water, the milk, the oil and the salt.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cool down.
3. Put the mixture in a bowl, add the eggs and knead well.
4. Add the grated cheese and keep kneading until the dough is smooth.
5. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into small balls.
   (Tip: Grease your hands with oil if it's too sticky.)
6. Place the balls onto a greased baking tray.
7. Bake the cheese buns in hot oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Put the cheese rolls in a basket and serve them warm.

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso - Cheese Buns