Alice Moireau

Featured in Apartamento Cookbook #8: Tuber, or Not Tuber?, illustrated by Olga Prader, along with Vadim Otto Ursus‘ ‘Beetroot with Sloe Berry and Labneh’, Niram Watthanasit’s Taro Cake with Taro Cream Cheese and Coconut Frosting, and Rosie Healey’s ‘A Salad of Jerusalem Artichokes, Parmesan, Walnuts, and Mint’, which you can read here.

This recipe has a special place in my heart because I was taught to make these enyucados by Anna, a Tica woman from Costa Rica, on one of my trips there to see my best friend, Bianca. Anna showed me all the steps of this traditional dish, and we ate the burning enyucados together before they even had a chance to cool. It’s a very playful recipe with fun steps and a cheeky result with its deliciously gooey texture and elastic cheese. Manioc is a super versatile root that I love to use as a replacement for potatoes or even when making desserts.

METHOD (Makes 6 enyucados)

Start by cutting the peeled manioc into large pieces and boiling it for about 20 minutes as you would to make boiled potatoes. Meanwhile, grate the Comté cheese. Leave the cooked manioc to drain, then mash with a potato masher. Cut a disc about 10cm in diameter from the plastic of a freezer bag and oil it lightly. Once the manioc has cooled, roll it into a ball and place it on the plastic disc. Press a good handful of grated Comté cheese in the centre (the older it is, the tastier it will be), then close the enyucado to form a small oblong ball about 10cm long. Remove the plastic, and in a frying pan with a little vegetable oil, fry the enyucados on all sides until coloured and crispy. Serve with a little fleur de sel and a hot sauce. It’s delicious, and the texture is incredible!