Yuca Croquettes (Colombian Cassava Croquettes)

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Yuca croquettes are boiled cassava mashed into a dough, breaded and fried until crisp outside and soft in the middle. They can be plain or stuffed with cheese. The one rule that decides the result: let the yuca cool completely before mashing it, or the dough turns gummy. Makes about ten.

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time45

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Colombian

Keyword: cassava croquettes

Servings:

Calories: 199kcal

Author: Angela Giraldo

Ingredients

2 medium cassava (yuca) about 1½ lb / 700 g total; frozen yuca works and comes already peeled and cored
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons lime juice lime, not lemon
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 garlic clove
1 egg, beaten
Cumin, pepper and salt, to taste
Oil, for frying enough to come halfway up the croquettes

Instructions

Peel the cassava, cut it into pieces and pull out the tough fibrous cord that runs down the centre of each piece. It never softens, however long you boil it.
Put the cassava, garlic, lime juice and salt in a pot and add water until everything is covered.
Boil over medium-high heat for about 25 minutes, until a fork goes into the cassava with no resistance.
Drain it and let it cool completely. This matters: warm cassava turns gummy and elastic as you mash it. Once cold, mash it with a fork or process it, add the cornstarch and work it into a dough that no longer sticks to your hands.
Take a portion of the dough, shape it, roll it through the beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs. Fry in hot oil until golden on both sides, then lift out and drain on paper towels.
Serve hot, with ají or whatever sauce you like.

Notes

Choose firm cassava with clean white flesh. Reject roots with grey or black streaks running through them, or with a woody, stringy texture: they are past their best and boiling will not fix them. Frozen yuca sidesteps the problem and comes peeled and cored.

Nutrition