Carimañolas (bis)

This is one of the most popular Panamanian recipe among my friends. Once you try these you’ll want to eat them constantly.

I first published this recipe in the summer of 2011 and they went a bit unnoticed, but I hope that this time people realized that they are amazing!

The carimañolas (can’t find a name in English) are medium sized croquette made with mashed cassava and filled with seasoned ground meat, cheese or chicken. They are often eaten for breakfast or really at any time during the day, because you can buy them from food carts on the street almost everywhere. They’re typical from the Caribbean cost of Colombia and Panama.

Ingredients

• 1 kg. cassava
• 500 g. ground beef
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 boiled egg
• A few leaves of cilantro (coriander), chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

Directions

Peel and cut the cassava into pieces and cook in salted water until tender (the time will depend on the cassava, 20 to 30 minutes)

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef in a pan, add onions, peppers, tomatoes and cilantro (coriander), when all the veggies are tender, 15 minutes or so, add the boiled egg chopped.

Mince the cassava and make a puree with it adding two tablespoons of oil. Knead well until the dough is compact and fairly easy to work with.

To form the Carimañolas, make balls with your hands and then smash them a little, place a spoonful of filling in the middle and close. They are oval, so you have to lengthen the sides.

Finally deep fry them in hot oil until golden. To add consistency you can put a beaten egg into the dough and to make them easier to handle you can use some oil on your hands, that way they won’t stick.

If you want to try something similar and also very very good, go take a look at these Cuban style stuffed potatoes.

Enjoy!