Vatapá — Bahian Shrimp, Bread & Coconut Purée

Vatapá is a rich, creamy Afro-Brazilian purée from Bahia, made from bread soaked in coconut milk and blended with ground peanuts and cashews, dried and fresh shrimp, ginger and herbs, then cooked with dendê (red palm oil) into a thick, savoury paste. It can be eaten as a dish with rice or used as the classic filling for acarajé and abará. It's one of the soul dishes of Salvador, with African and Indigenous roots.

Dendê is red palm oil — vivid orange and earthy-flavoured — central to Bahian cooking. It gives vatapá its characteristic colour and distinctive taste. There's really no true substitute for its flavour and hue; another oil will make the dish but it won't taste authentically Bahian. Look for dendê at Brazilian or African groceries. Use it in moderation — a little gives a lot of colour and flavour.

Vatapá is a thick, starchy, nutty purée, and like polenta or a thick béchamel it catches and scorches on the bottom of the pot very easily. Cooking it over medium-low heat and stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, reaching the bottom and corners, keeps it smooth and stops it burning. If it gets too thick, loosen with a little more coconut milk as you go.

Both. Vatapá is eaten as a dish in its own right, served hot with white rice (and often alongside other Bahian dishes like caruru and moqueca). It's also famously the creamy filling spooned into split acarajé (fried black-eyed pea fritters) and abará (steamed ones) by the baianas in Salvador. So you'll meet it both as a main and as the heart of Bahia's most iconic street snack.

Yes — vatapá de galinha (or de frango), made with chicken instead of shrimp, is a popular version, especially in Brazil's north and northeast (and it's the style often found in the famous Bahian-influenced dishes elsewhere). You can also make a vegetarian version leaning on the bread, coconut, nuts and dendê for richness. The shrimp (especially dried shrimp) gives the classic Bahian depth, but it adapts well.