Panamanian recipe
How to make Carimañolas
Panama and the Caribbean coast of Colombia
Torpedo-shaped fritters made from a dough of boiled, mashed yuca (cassava), filled with seasoned minced beef, chicken or cheese, and fried until golden and crisp. They are a favourite breakfast, often eaten with coffee.
Ingredients
- 700 g yuca (cassava), peeled, or frozen yuca
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 g minced beef
- 1 small onion and 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- Half a green pepper, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Oil for frying
Method
- Cut the yuca into chunks, remove the tough core and boil in salted water for about 25 minutes, until very soft. Drain well and mash while hot into a smooth, sticky dough. Leave to cool.
- Fry the onion, garlic and pepper in a spoonful of oil until soft, add the beef and cook until brown. Stir in the tomato paste and a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes, then let it cool.
- With damp hands, take a piece of yuca dough the size of an egg, flatten it in your palm, put a spoonful of filling in the middle and close the dough around it to make a torpedo shape.
- Heat about 5 cm of oil in a deep pan to about 175°C. Fry the carimañolas a few at a time for 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until golden. Take care with the hot oil.
- Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
They look like small bread rolls, but there is no flour in them: the whole outside is yuca.
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