{"id":9074,"date":"2026-10-18T16:54:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/?p=9074"},"modified":"2026-10-18T16:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T19:54:24","slug":"new-year-lentils-and-brazilian-sagu-recipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/new-year-lentils-and-brazilian-sagu-recipes\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year Lentils and Brazilian Sagu: Traditions and Recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"<html><body><p>For many families, serving lentils at New Year is a way of wishing for prosperity. Their shape resembles small coins: a symbolic association, not a promise of money or good fortune. Sagu can join the meal as a familiar dessert without implying that there is a universal New Year ritual associated with it.<\/p>\n<h2>Traditions vary between households<\/h2>\n<p>Some people eat lentils at midnight; others serve them at lunch the following day. Some keep dried lentils as a reminder of a New Year wish. These customs are optional. Anything placed in a decorative keepsake bag should not go back into the cooking pot; keep small dried grains away from young children.<\/p>\n<p>In Brazil, sagu commonly means a dessert made with small cassava-starch pearls. For the recipe below, use this product, also sold as small tapioca pearls, rather than granulated tapioca or large bubble-tea pearls. Check the manufacturer\u2019s instructions, as size affects soaking and cooking.<\/p>\n<h2>Bacon lentils: 6 side portions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>300g dried brown or green lentils, checked and rinsed<\/li>\n<li>900ml water or low-salt vegetable stock, plus up to 300ml hot water if needed<\/li>\n<li>150g diced bacon; use 150g sliced mushrooms for the meat-free option<\/li>\n<li>100g chopped onion, 3 chopped garlic cloves and 100g carrot in small dice<\/li>\n<li>15ml olive oil, 1 bay leaf and 2 tbsp chopped parsley<\/li>\n<li>Salt and pepper to taste; optional 15ml wine vinegar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the bacon until browned and cooked through. For the meat-free version, brown the mushrooms in the oil.<\/li>\n<li>Add the onion and carrot and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 1 minute.<\/li>\n<li>Add the lentils, bay leaf and 900ml liquid. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer partly covered for about 25\u201335 minutes, until tender but not falling apart.<\/li>\n<li>Stir occasionally and add reserved hot water a little at a time if the pan dries before the lentils soften. You may not need all of it.<\/li>\n<li>Remove the bay leaf, season and stir in the parsley and optional vinegar. Serve with some broth; reduce excess liquid uncovered for a few minutes if needed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Tinned lentils are already cooked and do not need the same water or cooking time as dried lentils. This recipe is written for dried lentils. If using tinned lentils, choose a recipe designed for them rather than directly substituting three tins for 300g dried lentils.<\/p>\n<h2>Grape sagu without wine: about 6 small portions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>100g small cassava tapioca pearls<\/li>\n<li>750ml water: 250ml for soaking and 500ml for the saucepan<\/li>\n<li>250ml pure grape juice, with no added sugar<\/li>\n<li>0\u201360g sugar, according to the juice\u2019s sweetness<\/li>\n<li>1 cinnamon stick and a thin strip of washed orange peel, without white pith<\/li>\n<li>Up to 150ml extra hot water, only if needed to finish cooking<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Soak the pearls in 250ml water for 1 hour unless the packet directs otherwise. Keep the soaking water.<\/li>\n<li>Heat the remaining 500ml water with the juice, cinnamon and peel. Add the pearls and their soaking water and maintain a gentle simmer.<\/li>\n<li>Cook for approximately 25\u201335 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Taste a pearl: it should be soft with no hard centre. If the mixture thickens too soon, add extra hot water gradually.<\/li>\n<li>Remove the cinnamon and peel. Taste and dissolve sugar a little at a time, using only what is needed. The dessert should still be fairly fluid, as it thickens when cold.<\/li>\n<li>Divide between small containers, cool promptly and refrigerate within 2 hours. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/panelinha.com.br\/receita\/sagu-de-uva\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Panelinha<\/a> also illustrates using grape juice and soaking the pearls. This recipe keeps one clear liquid formula: do not automatically add wine, condensed milk or an equivalent measure of sweetener. Wine makes a different recipe, and cooking it does not guarantee an alcohol-free result.<\/p>\n<h2>Storage and serving<\/h2>\n<p>Keep perishable dishes covered at 0\u20135\u00b0C. Cool cooked food promptly in shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours. Eat within 48 hours, following any shorter ingredient storage instructions. Combining leftovers does not restart their storage time. Reheat only what you need, once, until piping hot throughout.<\/p>\n<p>Serve small portions and replenish them from the fridge. Stir chilled sagu gently to redistribute the pearls. If it becomes too thick, loosen only the serving you need with a little drinking water; do not leave the dessert at room temperature for hours to soften.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Make bacon lentils and Brazilian grape sagu with clear measurements, exploring food traditions as symbols of prosperity and togetherness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":20259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[650,754,898],"class_list":["post-9074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun-facts","tag-atividades-natalinas","tag-lentilha","tag-sagu","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20262,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9074\/revisions\/20262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euamoonatal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}