I thought I would trick you into reading this one. It’s not so much tricking as it is deceiving. The truth is, yuca is the Latin Americans’ potato. Both are tubers. They have similar textures, although yuca is more fibrous. And they could probably be swapped out in most dishes.
Today I’m going to share with you two variations in the way we prepare yuca throughout Latin America. First, let me redirect you to a post from months ago. It walks you through the process of choosing, peeling and cooking yuca. Once you have that part done, then you can move on to one of these methods. Yuca con mojo is essentially a garlicky plate of yuca. Mojo is Latin-Caribbean sauce/dressing that is spooned over foods in Cuba and Puerto Rico, especially. The other variation would be Yuca Fries with Spicy Mayo-Ketchup dipping sauce. No real recipes here, just a bit of this and a pinch of that.
Yuca con Mojo
1 lb yuca, cooked and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic puree
Sea salt
Juice of 1 lime
2/3 cp olive oil
1/2 cp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
Keep the yuca warm or prepare the mojo while they cook. Heat up a small pan over medium temperature and add the minced garlic, make sure to stir it constantly to avoid burning it. Once that garlic softens, add the garlic puree and lime juice. Stir until well blended and cook for about 5 minutes over medium low temperature. Add half of the parsley and season with salt. Remove it from the heat.
Drizzle over the warm yuca and serve with another sprinkling of parsley. YUM!
Yuca Fries with Spicy Mayo-Ketchup
1 lb yuca, parboiled and cut into thick fries
Vegetable oil for frying
Sea salt
1 cp real mayonnaise
1/4 cp Ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsps habanero hot sauce
1 tsp sugar
Fry the yuca in enough oil to cover them, make sure the yuca has had a chance to cool before frying. It will take about 5 minutes to fry them to a golden brown. In the meantime, combine the rest of the ingredients and whisk them together. Check the seasoning and add a bit of salt IF necessary. Don’t forget you’ll salt the yuca after it has fried.
Serve as dipping sauce for the fries. By the way, both of these sauces/dips go incredibly well with potatoes and plantains. You can see more hunger-inducing shots here.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
Comments ( 7 )
Love that yuca and the mojo... the mayo-ketchup in PR you don't have to make it...they now sell it.....
Seriously?! I loved that they offer that for just about anything fried. I've been dipping my french fries in mayo-ketchup desde que tengo uso de razon! That's forever in English :-)
mmm...hard to choose...I like it both ways. And those flickr images made me drool!
Ok I'm a little ashamed as a Latina but I've never tried yuca. Can you believe that?weird. You make it sound delicious so and you've convinced me that now I have to get my hands on some.
Nancy, don't be ashamed. There are tons of things I've yet to try, and yuca isn't a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine, just like I've never tried those cactus fruits. Yuca is delicious, not sure if you'll be able to find it in your neck of the woods, though. Do let me know if you do!
Ok I will definitely let you know. Sometimes the organic markets or Vietnamese import rare fruits and veggies so I'll be on the lookout for them. Oh too bad you haven't tried tunas they are so good and so are nopales. But they can get some getting used to:)