Cassava balls - An African recipe high in carbohydrates

When I was searching for a recipe from Cynthya's blog, to tell you the truth I had so many options, so many varieties. But I chose Cassava balls recipe. This name Cassava, was very different and I was not familiar with it. As usual Wikipedia came to rescue and here are the details of what cassava is.

Cassava is also known as manioc, manihot, yucca, mandioca, sweet potato tree, and tapioca plant. It is an important food crop in the tropics where it is grown for its starchy, tuberous roots. It is a great source of carbohydrate and mainly grown in Africa.

This African recipe, is very tasty and easy to prepare. I tried the same way Cynthya instructed and it came out very well. I will share you the recipe given to me by Cynthya and here is the link to the original post of cassava balls from Cynthya's blog.

The recipe given below is Cynthya's and I did not do any modification to it. It needed nothing more. The Cassava balls were scrumptious.

Yield: 7 – 8 balls

Ingredients

For batter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
⅛ teaspoon salt
Water

For cassava ball
1 pound peeled cassava, quartered
Water to boil cassava
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup diced onions
½ teaspoon minced thyme
Hot pepper to taste, finely minced
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon salted butter, room temperature
Oil for deep frying
Equipment
1 whisk
1 small bowl
1 saucepan
1 colander
1 large bowl
1 potato masher
1 pan for deep frying
1 slotted spoon
Paper towels

Method

For batter
Mix all the ingredients together using a whisk or your hand, adding enough water to make a thin batter (the consistency of crepe batter)
Set aside

For cassava ball
Add cassava to pot with water and salt to taste and bring to a boil covered
Boil cassava until it’s soft and begins to fall apart by splitting open
Meanwhile, heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan
Add onions and thyme and sauté gently until translucent; season with salt
Stir in hot pepper and let cook for a minute
Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in sliced green onions
Strain boiled cassava using a colander; do not wash off the starch
Discard the stems found in the middle of the cassava
Add the hot, cooked cassava to a bowl along with the butter and mash until it becomes creamy (this requires some elbow-grease as the mashed cassava thickens)
Once the cassava is creamy, scrape off the bits from the masher and set the masher aside
Add the sautéed onion mixture to the mashed-creamed cassava and with clean hands gently combine the two; taste for salt and adjust if necessary
Divide the cassava mixture evenly and roll into balls; set aside
Heat oil for deep frying in pan
Bathe the cassava balls one at a time and fry (coat completely); depending on the width of your pan, you can fry 3 – 4 cassava balls at a time; be careful that they do not stick to each other
Fry until golden brown all over and drain on paper towels
Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be eaten as is or with your favourite sour or pickle





I am sending this to Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted in which she has chosen Cynthya's blog this month.