Sometimes the stew also includes platanos (plantains), and the stew is generally accompanied by rice, beans, farofa, and pirão, which is a yellow colored paste made from cassava flour and fish broth from the stew.
Pasteis typically include meat or cheese, and are fried before served. Tapioca cubes are made of tapioca and cheese, and then fried before served. Both often come with a slighlty spicy sauce to enjoy when eating them.
Cassava is used throughout Brazilian cuisine, is readily available, and is an important part of Brazilian cultural identity rooted in Brasil's indigenous culinary and cultural history. The cassava root produces a variety of classic dishes using the root itself, cassava flour, and tapoica flour, which is made from the starch of the cassava plant. Cassava and Tapioca can be baked into cakes and breads, used to make crepes, and fried. In other parts of Latin America and parts of the United States, Cassava is also known as Yuca or Manioc.
