It was love at first sight with Mr. Queso de Hoja, the cheese vendor, whose, uh, balls of cheese were always the freshest…
Oh, how I miss the street vendors. All vendors really, but in particular, and in no small part due to their multitude, the food vendors, of course. The travelling hair accessories guy is great, and the baby-clothes dude was an ally, of sorts. But unless you owe these folks money, you can’t be certain of when or where you’ll see them next. I could set my watch on my 5 o’clock pastelito, however. Without fail, the pastelitero would appear with his hot, savoury pastries, clanking the lid of his big tin and cachú (ketchup) in tow.
Also a welcome sight was Mr. Lambicero, ambling down the street with his giant tupperware full of conch salad, served to you in a styrofoam cup, complete with lemon wedge; a nice treat on a Sunday. There are too many other snack vendors to mention further (the boiled egg kids, the chicharrones guy, the old man and his corn-on-the-cob etc., etc.), to cater to your every craving.
Let us not forget the other food vendors too, the ones who mould your family’s menu into shape. What you have for your lunch could well depend on who happens to pass by. “Berro! Berro!” Hey, a watercress salad for lunch might be nice… “Guanduleeees!” Mmmmm, guandules guisados today sounds like a good idea. And who can resist the travelling fishmongers, proudly displaying their largest catches of the day? Much simpler than racking your brain in the supermarket, searching for ideas, they bring the supermarket to you (and less overhead too, making them that much cheaper).
Now if only they would adhere to some standard of decency in regards to the volumes of their loudspeakers, it would be a perfect street vendor world.
Jill Wyatt
Jill, a member of our original team (where we knew her as Aunt Jane), and contributor to our book, is Canadian, mom to two Canadian-Dominican boys and resided in the Dominican Republic for several years.
This is a variation of empanaditas that is made with the ingredient from which it borrows its name: cassava flour. In this recipe, since we assume you won't be able to buy cassava flour at your local store, we obtain the same results using a different method.
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb. of ground beef
- 4 tomatos, cubed
- 1 small red onion
- 2 cloves of garlic, cut into quarters
- 1 sprig of parsley (optional)
- 1 pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 4 cups of oil for frying
- 1 lb. of cassava (yuca, yucca roots), peeled
- Salt
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes, pepper, onion, garlic and parsley in the food processor and pulse until it turns into a coarse paste (see notes).
- Place the ground beef in a bowl, mix with the seasoning paste, add a pinch of pepper and a teaspoon of salt.
- In a shallow pan heat a tablespoon of oil. Simmer over medium heat.
- Once all the liquid has evaporated, remove from the heat. Reserve.
- Grate the cassava into a fine paste.
- Using a piece of cloth squeeze the grated yuca to get rid of as much moisture as possible.
- In a deep-bottomed pan mix in 1/4 cup of water and half a teaspoon of salt, Once the water breaks the boil add the grated yuca and cook over very low fire stirring until about half of the yuca turns a darker, transparent looking color.
- Remove from the heat and stir. Place the mixture on an oiled surface. Cool to room temperature.
- Oil the palm of your hands and knead the dough until it it is elastic and retain its shape. If it looks too fragile reheat in the microwave for 5 seconds and knead again once it's cooled.
- Divide the dough into 12 balls of equal size. On a lightly oiled surface roll out the balls forming thin disks.
- Put a tablespoon of the beef in the center, double over in a semi-circle and seal the border pressing it with a fork.
- Deep fry the pasties submerged in very hot oil until they are golden brown. Place on a paper towel for a minute before serving.
Notes
If you do not have a food processor, chop the ingredients for the seasoning, making sure that it is as tiny pieces as possible to avoid breaking the dough disks.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican and Dominican-inspired recipes, home ideas, crafts, and the chronicles of Aunt Clara and Aunt Ilana's adventures.
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
i want to say i love all the recipes you post, specially this one. i love to make empanadas it was delightful to find this one made from yucca. i’m actually making it as i write . there’s one thing that i found confusing how long do you cook the yucca for ?do you cook it until it becomes translucent. how many minutes? please,could you be more specific?
thanks
A few minutes. You'll notice the change right away.
como puedo hacerlas con harina de yuca .No tengo recetas para hacerla con harina .
I've never used harina de yuca, maybe a little experimenting will be in your future.
Let me know if you try it.
I wanted to know if I can do this with frozen grated yucca I bought from the supermarket I wanted to find another use for it other than the arrañitas. It's already grated but I would need to defrost it.
when you use frozen ingredients that need to be dry or at their regular temperature, you should usually pat them dry. It might work better this way.
I've never done this myself, so if you try it let us know if it works.
um where can u by yucca in the indiana
Hello!! I will like to make TORTA(Jarabacoa), please give me the recipe..Thank You…
intenté hacer las catibías (o cativías) pero el resultado al cocinar la yuca rayada es una masa completamente pegajosa y dificil de manejar. Es esto normal?
Yes, it is a pretty sticky gruel. Cover your hands in oil or flour so it doesn't stick to your hands. However, if it is too sticky it means that it was either over-cooked or undercooked.
Is there any way that I could bake the pastries as opposed to frying them? If so, what are your recommendations: temperature, time, should I add oil to the outsides?
Also, can I freeze any leftovers?
Thank you!
No, baking would not work unfortunately.
Yes, freeze before you fried them. Separate them with wax paper.
Por favor alguien que tenga experiencia como hacer las empanadas de yuca que me aclaren como deve de quedar la masa cuando se cocina Blanca o transparente como cuando se cocina en agua. Gracias
Nota yo las hice por mucho que las cocine hasta dorarlas no me quedaron muy tostaditas como esperaba
Ana, no entiendo muy bien tu pregunta. ¿Seguiste los pasos de esta receta? ¿En qué paso fue el problema?
El problema esta cuando cocino la masa como deve de ser la consistencia transparente o se deve quedar toda blanca. Yo sigo la receta bien pero cuando cocino la masa con el agua hirviendo y la sal en pocos minutos la masa se me pega y siempre La estoy moviendo, lo que se pega se pone transparente y se mescla con el resto de la masa que todavia esta blanca
Digame aproximadamente cuantos minutos despues que se seca el agua. Gracias por su rapida respuesta.
Ana, te aconsejo que vayas a nuestro blog en español, quizás esto te pueda aclarar las cosas.
I can get the cassava flour and found that it gets hard as a rock when mixed with water. Please tell me how to mix so I can use this way. The empanadas look good. Thanks
Perfect lunch food at work. We have a Hari Krishna woman who once a month brings around the offices a basket of homemade vegetarian samosas and they are to die for, and so cheap. I wish she came more often but she services many different suburbs and the other food shops in the area don’t like her so she doesn’t come too often.
Suzanne Perazzini recently posted..Lemon Curd Cupcakes – I got to use the excess berry cream cheese frosting
I’ve always wondered how to make these–thank you for showing us =)
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This is quite new to me. I love that it’s savory and such an interesting unique dough recipe!
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That’s got to be the most photogenic yuca I’ve ever seen…this looks really interesting, I’ve never had yuca empanadas.
@Nancy, Here in Brazil, cassava flour (tapioca starch) is used a lot and it DOES turn into rocks when you add water initially, you just have to use your fingers to break up the rocks until you have a bunch of little crumbs. What I don’t know is if you would have to add more liquid or oil at the point to make a dough like what’s pictured here, I am curious to try, though…
I made these this past week. They were yummy. I didn’t get the dough right. I think I had too much grated yucca for the 1/4 cup of water the recipe called for. The dough was so sticky. I just kept oiling my hands and that’s how I got through it. My hubby was so intrigued I was making something that didn’t start off in a box, he helped to make them. It was fun. My resolution is to attempt 1 recipe a week. 1 down 51 more to go:)
How do I choose a good Yucca root when shopping.
Delicious, I was looking for this for long time, I will be making them today can wait to tasted. thank you so much for all those recipes.