Iris Rodriguez is the chef and co-owner of Little Chango, a Hispanic craft kitchen in Asheville’s South Slope. She was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. With a Puerto Rican father and a Cuban mother, Iris has always been passionate about Hispanic food. Her cooking style is a blend of Latinx cuisines with a strong background in Hispanic Caribbean traditional food.
This recipe kind of reminds me of alcapurrias, a traditional fritter in Puerto Rico. I’ve been working with Vandele Farms now for a couple of years, it is a small farm run by a husband and wife, they sustainably raise their pigs there. They don’t have a kill facility in their farm, and they butcher based on the orders that they receive so you know quality is great. You can also give them any sausage recipe that you would like, and they will produce it for you. The care and love that this farmer put into their craft is inspiring and it shows in the quality of their products compared to any commodity produce out there. I want to make sure that we can support each other in any way that we can.
Ingredients
- 1 medium tomato
- 1 small red onion
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves
- Olive oil
- Lime juice (1 lime)
- Kosher salt
- Canola oil
- 1 pound of cassava (yuca) root
- 1/2 pound local chorizo
Directions
- Rinse the cilantro leaves in cold water and dry them with a kitchen towel. Mince the cilantro, small dice tomatoes, and thinly slice the red onion. In a stainless steel bowl, combine all these ingredients and season with Kosher salt, olive oil, and lime juice to taste. Set aside while working on the rest of the recipe.
- Cut yuca root crosswise into about 4-inch pieces. Cut those pieces lengthwise and remove the fibrous core. Grate the yuca on the smallest side of a box grater.
- In a large sauté pan, heat a generous amount of canola oil over medium/high heat. The temperature should be at 350F.
- Grab 1 tablespoon at a time of the grated yuca masa and flatten it into 1-inch round thin patties. Fry patties until golden brown in both sides. It should take around 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat in batches until all the yuca patties have been fried.
- In a sauté pan cook chorizo at medium heat. Make sure to constantly stir the chorizo so it cooks evenly. It takes about 15 minutes.
- Spoon a small amount of the chorizo into each yuca fritter and garnish with the veggie mixture that you set aside. Enjoy!