Yuca Con Mojo
Cuban boiled cassava drowned in mojo: a vivid, raw sauce of crushed garlic, sour orange and olive oil. The starchy, almost waxy yuca soaks up everything; a fork of it, hot, with the mojo just spooned over and crackling in the pan-warmth, is one of the great simple plates of the Caribbean.
Overview
Cassava boils in salted water until a knife slides through easily. Garlic is crushed to a coarse paste with salt; sour orange juice (or lime + orange) mixes in; hot olive oil is poured over, blooming the garlic. The drained yuca goes into a serving dish; the mojo gets poured generously on top.
Ingredients
- 1 kg cassava (yuca; peeled, cored and cut into 4 cm chunks)
- 1 tablespoon salt (for the cooking water)
Mojo
- 8 garlic cloves (crushed to paste with a pinch of salt)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 100 ml olive oil
- 2 sour oranges (or 60 ml fresh orange juice + 30 ml lime juice, juice)
- 1 onion (small, very thinly sliced)
- Black pepper
- Fresh parsley (or coriander, chopped, to serve)
Method
Stage 1 - Boil the yuca
- Cover the cassava with cold water in a large pan; add the salt.
- Bring to the boil; reduce to a simmer and cook 20-25 minutes until a knife slides through easily.
- Drain; arrange in a serving dish; pull out the woody central core if any pieces still have it.
Stage 2 - Mojo
- Mash the garlic with the salt to a paste in a mortar (or finely mince and crush with the side of a knife).
- Mix in the cumin, oregano, citrus juices and onion. Let sit 5 minutes.
- Heat the olive oil in a small pan until shimmering (just before smoking).
- Pour the hot oil over the garlic mixture; it will sizzle and bloom. Stir; let stand 2 minutes.
Stage 3 - Serve
- Spoon the mojo all over the hot yuca, including the onions.
- Top with chopped parsley or coriander.
Notes
- Sour orange (naranja agria) is traditional: If you can't find it, the orange + lime mix is the standard substitute.
- Cassava cooking time varies: Older roots take longer. The piece is done when a knife meets no resistance.
- Hot oil is key: Cold oil gives raw garlic. The bloom step mellows the garlic and emulsifies the sauce.
- Frozen cassava: Pre-peeled frozen yuca (Caribbean grocers) skips a tedious knife job; cook from frozen, adding 5 minutes.
Storage
- Best eaten right away. Leftover yuca refrigerates 2 days; reheat in the microwave; remake the mojo fresh.
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