Abuela insisted on making boiled yuca for the Christmas table. It just tasted like stringy potatoes to us kids, because we didn’t dare slather it in the mojo-olive oil with mashed raw garlic. Though I did love to dip my bread in it.
In my 20s, yuca fries became a hipster side dish served all over San Francisco, and I learned I actually love the stuff when the texture becomes crunchy.
Mom started buying bags of frozen, peeled yuca at the Sonoma bodegas to fry for the ‘Cuban night’ dinners she made for Luis and Toño-they have much fonder childhood memories of yuca.
Fried Yuca with Mojo de Ajo
Ingredients
- 1 bag frozen peeled yuca
- salt
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1 cup olive oil for mojo
- 4 cloves garlic
Instructions
- Place the frozen yuca in a pot, cover with water, add salt, and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to medium low, cover, and cook 30 minutes or until tender.
- Meanwhile, make the mojo. Cut the garlic cloves in half then smash with the side of a knife, adding a lit bit of salt to make a paste. Add to a mortar and add olive oil in a thin stream, mashing with a pestle as you go.
- Drain the yuca. You can serve boiled with the mojo, or if you will be frying it, slice into uniform wide sticks. Either way, be sure to remove any of the hard center stems as needed.
- Heat oil for frying and fry the yuca until golden on all sides. Serve immediately with mojo on the side.