Carimanolas (Panamanian street food)
Servings
8pieces
Servings
8pieces
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and chopped yucca root. Keep boiling until yucca flakes easily with a fork. Remove from heat and drain water. In a mixing bowl, mash boiled yucca root with a pinch of salt. Mash until texture is smooth. (Do not use blender or hand mixer.) Put to the side and let cool while cooking the beef stuffing.
  2. Sauté beef and mash down with a masher. Add onion, garlic and spice blend. Cook until onion softens. Add carrots, cook for a few minutes. Add bell peppers, cook for a few minutes. Add stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes. In the last few minutes, add peas. Remove from heat and fold in cilantro.
  3. Take cooled mashed yucca and make a ball of mashed yucca roughly smaller than a baseball. Flatten it out while keeping a depression in the middle of the mash. Put 1 tablespoon of cooled beef mixture in the middle of mash. Pull the mash around the center ball of beef and cover completely. (You should have a football-shaped mashed yucca with the beef center fully covered.) Place all the footballs on a wax paper-lined tray and cool at room temperature for 15 minutes.
  4. Heat up 3 cups of oil in a high-sided saute pan on high heat. Brown the yucca football on all sides until crispy brown. Keep turning until fully browned on all sides. The resulting creation is carimanolas and is delicious! Lightly dust with crushed salt or chile lime salt after taking them out of the oil for an even richer flavor. Serve with your favorite salsa and wedges of fresh lime! Enjoy!