Farofa (manioc with liver and onions)

Farofa is a great way to use up what you have; as long as there are onions and oil as a base, you can add any combination of raw or cooked vegetables and meats, if you wish. Here, urucum is called annatto, and you can buy annatto seeds or infused oil in the Spanish foods section of most supermarkets. Serves 3-4.

2 chicken livers
1 onion
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp colorau (annatto mixed with cornflour), or 1 tsp ground annatto seeds
4 scallions, green part only, sliced
2 cups farinha de mandioca
Salt and pepper to taste

Marlene parboiled the chicken livers; then she diced them. Meanwhile, she grated an onion and fried it in vegetable oil until it began to soften. Then, she added colorau, which is urucum (annatto) mixed with a bit of cornflour, and stirred to combine. She added the diced livers and let everything cook together for a bit, until the livers were done. She threw in the scallion greens, and then began adding the farinha de mandioca a little at a time, stirring to mix flavors and toast a bit. Adjust with salt. That’s all.

A few notes (from Peter):
I would have sautéed the livers in butter with salt and pepper. I would dice the onions instead of grating them, then use butter to sauté. Colorau is optional. Add the farinha a bit at a time over low heat to let it toast in the butter. In Brazil, the cooks usually don't use black pepper, but I can't live without it.

Eggs -- either hard boiled and roughly diced, and added near the end, or fried with a bit of garlic in the butter and cut up before adding the onions -- are often included. You can throw in some chopped parsley, and a bit of hot pepper, too.

There are millions of variations, and they are all delicious.