Summary

Ingredients

• 800 g cassava / yuca, peeled and cut into pieces
• 5 clove (s) garlic
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• salt

For the sauce: (Salsa Rosada)

• 150 g mayonnaise
• 150 g ketchup

For the dressing:

• 100 ml olive oil
• 2 clove (s) garlic, finely chopped or squeezed
• 1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped

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Instructions

1. The people of America had entrusted their most valuable treasures to Pachamama, mother earth: gold, silver, potatoes and cassava / yuca. While the Spaniards silvered the gold faster than they could track it down and consequently had to put down the first series of state bankruptcies, the quartz Old Fritz potatoes were made at home in the Brandenburg sand box and gold-plated into Pommes Fritz. And the cassava? It has been overlooked to this day
2. When tourists drive past cassava plantations, they tend to think of an overgrown mainland mangrove parody. Spill-like branches with a few alibi sheets form a threadbare, unattractive network that does not seem worthy of attention. In competition with orchids, banana trees, heliconias, ginger, croto, palm trees and other tropical wonders, cassava is the purest diarrhea. Figuratively speaking.
3. The miracle root is in serious competition with the potato on the New Continent and is prepared in very similar ways. Cooked, poured with clarified butter and accompanied with Carne do Sol, it is preferable to any potato in Brazil, in stews it asserts its own position and is by no means perceived as a substitute, with mojo, a citrus dressing, poured over Yuca is simply fingerlicking good and as Yuca Frita they are the other fries. Curious or already convinced?
4. Let`s try it. Peel the cassava / yuca root, roughly cut into pieces the length of fries and cook in salted water for about 25-30 minutes together with the cloves of garlic and celery. The yuca should be soft but not disintegrate. Very similar to boiled potatoes.
5. Now carve the cooked cassava pieces into fries. Pay attention to the kernel of the cassava root, which is slightly different in color from the rest of the white flesh of the root and is usually fibrous. If possible, cut it out immediately because it would only bother you later anyway. Although the fibers tend to get caught between the teeth, they are an inadequate substitute for dental floss.
6. In a second step, the Yuca fries are fried in oil. Lift out with a slotted spoon, lay out on kitchen paper and salt immediately.
7. Yuca Frita is eaten as an accompaniment to meat dishes, but it is also often eaten as a small snack with Sunday afternoon beer. The three most popular yuca frita sauces are mayonnaise (white), ketchup (red), and salsa rosada, which is simply mayonnaise and ketchup half and half mixed together. As an alternative, I can offer a dressing made from olive oil, garlic and parsley. The beer to go with it is always ice cold.
8. Before you get there, sit back and take in the still life in gold. You will become aware of the tragedy of the Spanish conqueror who, struck by blindness, did not recognize that gold in its most valuable form is edible and drinkable.