Feijão tropeiro (beans with cassava flour and bacon)

Method

1. The day before, rinse the carioca beans and soak them in cold water for 8 to 12 hours. Drain, put them in the pressure cooker with 1.2 litres of water and the bay leaf and cook 12 to 15 minutes once it starts hissing: the beans should be tender but whole. Let the pressure out, drain well and remove the bay leaf.
2. Make fluffy white rice: boil 750 ml of water in a kettle. In a medium pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over low heat and soften ½ onion, finely chopped, with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes; add 300 g of long-grain rice and stir for 1 minute until every grain is coated. Pour in the boiling water, add 1 teaspoon of salt, stir once and cook uncovered over medium heat until the water drops to the level of the rice (about 7 minutes). Lower the heat, half-cover and cook 8 minutes more until dry; turn off the heat, keep covered for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
3. Chop the remaining onion and the garlic; dice the bacon and cut the calabresa sausage into 0.5 cm half-moons. Strip the thick stalks from the collard greens and shred them very finely. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt.
4. In a large frying pan or wide pot over medium heat, fry the bacon for 4 minutes in its own fat (add 1 tablespoon of oil if it sticks); add the calabresa and fry 5 minutes more until browned. Pour off excess fat, leaving about 2 tablespoons.
5. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes; add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Push everything to one side, pour the eggs into the space and stir for 2 minutes until set in small pieces; then mix through.
6. Add the drained beans, season with salt and black pepper and stir for 3 minutes to heat through and take on flavour. Add the greens and toss for 2 minutes, just until wilted.
7. Turn off the heat and sprinkle in the cassava flour little by little, stirring with a fork, until the tropeiro is loose but still slightly moist (you may not need it all). Stir in the chopped chives and serve at once with the rice.