Market Bowl · Bread & Garlic Soup
Açorda Alentejana
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Valereee / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
There's no meat or stock in the traditional version — the entire dish is built from stale bread, garlic, olive oil, coriander and a poached egg.
Torn day-old bread is soaked in a garlic-and-coriander-infused broth until it turns thick and porridge-like, then topped with a poached egg. Sold at Alentejo's market food stalls and country fairs as a cheap, filling meal.
Why it's made this way: Alentejo's dry, grain-growing plains produced abundant bread but little meat for much of its history, so this soup became a way to turn stale leftovers, garden herbs and a single egg into a substantial meal.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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