Recipes using cassava

I know, I said it would take a while to come back to this subject. But I just couldn’t help it. I really wanted to give two simple recipes that use cassava products.

That’s why, today I won’t write about the ingredients themselves. But instead there are two recipes coming your way!

One of them is very traditional and known, and it is cheese bread (or pão de queijo). I chose this one because the ingredients required are somewhat easy to find, around the globe. Seriously, if you live outside Brazil, look for these ingredients in big supermarkets, in Latin American food section.

And the other one, is gluten free pancake recipe! After all, it’s a thing, right? But seriously, for like two seconds, gluten is a protein, some people are sensitive to it, others don’t. So, if you haven’t gone through any allergy exams that prove that you are sensitive to this ingredients, don’t eliminate gluten from your diet just because people are talking about it. Remember that not long ago, egg yolks were the big villains of cholesterol, and today they’re not villains anymore. What I mean is: try to absorb this type of information with caution and always, always talk to a doctor and nutritionist that you can trust, so they can guide you on what to do.

OK, that's enough! Let's go back to our recipes, I just think it’s cool knowing different ways of making recipes, having different methods, or different ingredients, or both. For me it’s a lot more related to diversity than a trend.

So here we go!.

Pão de Queijo - Cheese Bread

Ingredients

500mL milk

250mL vegetable oil

500g “sweet” cassava starch

500g “sour” cassava starch

5g salt

5 medium eggs (in case they are big, use 4 eggs)

500g grated cheese (serra da canastra or meia cura or mozzarella or british cheddar or any cheese you like)

100g grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Warm up the milk with the oil, then let it cool down until lukewarm temperature.
2. Sieve the cassava starches and the salt. Then add them to the milk. Mix well.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each inclusion.
4. Add the cheese and mix them well.
5. Make little balls and put them in a greased tray.
6. At this point you can either freeze the cheese bread to make them later, or you can bake them straight away. For baking: take them to a pre-heated oven at 180°C (around 356°F).
7. Take them out of the oven when they are golden on the outside, that’s between 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of the cheese bread). Serve it with coffee.

Pancakes with cassava flour

Ingredients

½ cup dry cassava flour

1 ½ cups of coconut milk

1 tablespoon muscovado sugar

1 egg

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Method

1. Mix the egg with the milk in a bowl. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and mix it well.
2. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes.
3. In a greased pan (with coconut oil), put little portions of batter.
4. Fry it in low heat until it forms bubbles and becomes fluffy.
5. Let the bottom become golden, then turn the pancake, so the other side will become golden as well.
6. Take it off the frying pan and repeat the process until all batter has been used.
7. Serve it with chocolate ganache, nutella, fruit jam, chocolate cream, fresh fruit, yoghurt and honey or whatever preparation/ingredient you prefer.