Description
Yuca with mojo sauce is a great side dish for roast pork. This Cuban root vegetable is dense, creamy and is often eaten as yuca fries, too.
Ingredients
2–3 big yuca root vegetable (about 2 pounds)
1 sliced yellow onion
5–6 cloves minced garlic
¼ cup olive oil
Juice from 1–2 sour oranges, or to taste (see note)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
Boiled Yuca With Mojo
- Heat a pot of salted water and bring to a boil.
- While the water heats up, slice the onions and mince the garlic.
- Cut the yuca into 4 inch pieces and then half each piece.
- Peel the yuca skin (you need to remove both the dark outer skin and the pink layer underneath… see note).
- Add the yuca to the boiling water and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook the yuca until fork tender (about 20 minutes or so).
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions and garlic until the onions are softened but not browned.
- Add the sour orange juice to taste.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour over boiled yuca.
Yuca Fries
- Cut the leftover boiled yuca pieces into wedges. (It’s best to cut while it’s cold.)
- Heat 1-2 cups of vegetable oil in saucepan.
- Fry the yuca wedges.
- Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.
- Serve with leftover mojo sauce (or make some more, if you ate all if to the day before!). You can also serve the yuca with lime cilantro aioli.
Notes
You should be able to find sour oranges in Latin markets. But if it’s not available, use a mixture that’s equal parts lime juice and orange juice. You’ll want roughly ¼ cup of juice.
If you can’t find the yuca in the produce section, you’ll probably find it in the freezer section.
The best way to peel the yuca is to cut the long yuca into 4 inch pieces. Then cut a slit into the thick bark-like skin. Peel back the bark as you would on a tree. This way, you’ll remove both the outer skin that’s dark brown as well as the inner layer that’s light pink. The pink layer is hard and is not appetizing.
This recipe makes enough for about 6 servings of yuca and leftovers for about 3-4 servings the next day.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 10
Keywords: yuca, yuca fries, yuca with mojo, boiled yuca, yuca con mojo, yuca frita, yuca recipes, cuban yuca, fried yuca