Bolitas de Yuca (Cheese-Stuffed Cassava Balls)
Crisp golden cassava balls with a melting cheese center, served with pink mayo-ketchup for dipping.
Recipe in testing: I'm cooking it in my TM7™ and will update the steps and the photo with my own.
Bolitas de yuca are crisp golden balls of mashed cassava with a cube of melting cheese in the center, a favorite at Puerto Rican parties and cuchifritos and loved across the Caribbean and Colombia too. Break one open and the cheese stretches; dip it in pink mayo-ketchup and you will understand why the tray empties so fast.
In the Thermomix® TM7™, the yuca cooks in the simmering basket, and then the same bowl turns it into a smooth, elastic dough with butter and an egg yolk. You wrap each piece of dough around a cube of cheese, give it a quick coat of egg and crumbs and fry it in a pot on the stove.
Made in the Thermomix® TM7™
Bolitas de Yuca (Cheese-Stuffed Cassava Balls)
Makes: About 20 bolitas
- Prep30 min
- Cook45 min
- Total1 h 45 min
- Serves10
Ingredients
For the yuca dough
For the filling and coating
To fry and serve
Instructions
- Place the water and 1 tsp of the salt in the mixing bowl, insert the simmering basket, add the yuca and cook 30 min/100°C (212°F)/speed 1, until a knife slides easily into the yuca.
- Lift out the simmering basket with the spatula hook, pour out the water and let the yuca cool for 10 minutes. Pull out and discard the woody string from the center of each piece.
- Place the yuca, butter, egg yolk, garlic powder and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt in the empty mixing bowl and mix 20 sec/speed 4. Scrape down the sides and knead 1 min/dough mode, until it forms a smooth dough.
- Transfer the dough to a plate, let it cool for 15 minutes and divide it into 20 portions of about 37 g (2 1/2 tbsp).
- Flatten a portion in your palm, place a cube of mozzarella in the center, close the dough around it and roll it into a smooth ball. Repeat with the rest, oiling your hands lightly if the dough sticks.
- Dip each ball in the beaten egg and roll it in the panko. Refrigerate them for 15 minutes.
- Heat 5 cm (2 in) of oil in a deep pot on the stove to 180°C (360°F). Fry the bolitas in batches of 5 for 3 to 4 minutes, turning them, until golden, and drain them on paper towels.
- Stir the mayonnaise, ketchup and garlic together in a small bowl and serve with the bolitas while they are hot.
Tips
- Frozen peeled yuca saves time and works just as well as fresh. If you use fresh yuca, peel off the bark-like skin and the pink layer under it first.
- Use a cheese that melts, like low-moisture mozzarella or cheddar. Queso blanco and frying cheese hold their shape and will not stretch.
- Freeze the breaded, uncooked bolitas on a tray, then in a freezer bag, up to 2 months. Fry them from frozen at 175°C (350°F) for 5 to 6 minutes.
- Serve them right away: the cheese stretches best while they are hot.
