Yesterday we had talked of truffle; today I came across an interesting starchy tuber called as cassava, in the Panama Gourmet blog, posted by Melissa. Melissa’s experience dates back to her cassava tasting in the chemistry lab and the cassava starch that the Chinese dry cleaner used for ironing.
But these experiences were mere introductions to what lied in front of her as an ingredient that has a vast usage in Latin American cuisine. She has given two great delicacies, namely Yuca Croquettes with Chorizo and Tamarind Sauce and Cake de Yuca al Chocolate y Coco.
Apart from these delicacies, Yuca or cassava can be used as a substitute for potatoes in pottage, meats, stews, and cutlets. Cassava constitutes the basic meal of Brazilian cuisine, where farofa (cassava flour) cassava combines with rice and beans. The famous dishes are vaca atolada and pirao, where the former is made out of meat and cassava root and is cooked until the root turns into a paste and pirao is a gruel which is made out of fish bones and head, and then cooked further with farofa.
Cassava is also used to make tapioca, bread, cakes and other alcoholic beverages, and it is also used as for other industrial usages. Cassava is also used in Asian vegetarian cooking where the easy availability of cassava makes it a rice replacement in poor homes. It is also eaten as a snack and sometimes it is boiled and eaten like sweet potato. This root is filling but it has no nutrition content.
Thanks Melissa
Read More: Wikipedia
