How to cook manioc

I've been experimenting with various starches here, trying to learn to cook with ingredients from the market. After cooking with plantain, I fell in love and began mashing, frying, and boiling them in everything I could think of. This week I finally decided it was time to move on, so I asked my house help, Camilla, to get some manioc from the market. I've seen and cooked with manioc before; it comes from the Andes and is also called yucca. Here, the root is also known as cassava, and as a Cameroonian told me, it is all starch.

I asked for $1 worth of manioc from the market, and wasn't quite expecting what I found when I came home from school. Camilla had returned with what must have been at least five pounds of large brown roots. My roommate asked me if I knew how to prepare the manioc properly, mentioning that it had cyanide on it. ¡Whoa! I didn't realize that could be a problem. Previously, I had cooked with waxed manioc, so perhaps it had already been processed somehow. Concerned, I left a note for Camilla asking if she could explain how to cook this delicious root. What follows is her response:

How to cook manioc: you first take off the skin, then you grate the backs of the manioc a little with a knife before you boil it. (She left me an example in a bowl). You don't have to leave manioc for many days because they can go bad. When you buy it, cook the very day or the next day. Well Megan, I hope when you read this you will understand.

I followed her instructions, and my bicep is a bit sore from cutting off the tough outer peel. After peeling, I cut it into big chunks, washed them in a bowl of water, and then boiled them in a large pot. Once they were falling apart, I drained them and let them cool. I tried to pull out the tough fibers in the center (although I missed a couple and had to pick them out as I ate). The next day (for no particular reason other than that was when I had time) I added a cup of water to the pot, brought it to a simmer and used a potato masher to turn it into a piecy paste. When it was stirrable, I threw it 1/2 cup milk powder, dissolved in two minced cloves of garlic and 1/2 of water (those of you in the States might want to try a combination of butter and cream--really, any fattening dairy product should work). I let it simmer until the milk seemed to be absorbed and served it warm. Although the dish isn't typical of Cameroon, my Cameroonian friends seemed to enjoy eating this Ecuadorian side dish, and I'm excited to have lots of leftovers! This is a great dish for anytime when you want to make sure that no one will leave hungry--it's cheap, but very heavy.

In shorter recipe form:
Mashed Manioc/Yucca/Cassava
2-3 manioc roots
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup whole milk

Peel the manioc, getting rid of all of the purplish exterior pieces, then cut it in chunks. Wash the chunks in water. Add them to a pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer until the manioc is tender and falling apart. Drain and let cool. (The traditional Cameroonian form would stop at this step and serve the root still warm.)

When cold enough to handle, pull the chunks apart into large pieces, removing any tough fibers that you find. Return to the pot and place over low heat. If the chunks are still fairly warm and soft, add the garlic and milk directly. Mash until it forms a soft paste. Serve warm.

In my preparations to go to Cameroon, I found this recipe for banana bread. It's delightfully quick to make. It seems that the bananas replace a lot of the sugar and fat. Ironically, I've only made it once since arriving here because there's a woman who sells banana muffins at the school for 100 cfa (about 20 cents)!

Easy Banana Bread Recipe
Makes 8-10 slices. Preparation time: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 1 hour.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sugar
3-4 ripe bananas
2 medium eggs
1 baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Peel and add the bananas, breaking them into small pieces with a spatula. Mash with mixer, gradually increasing the speed until the bananas are mostly smooth. Add the eggs, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until smooth. Gradually add the flour and mix until smooth.

Grease a medium bread tin and pour in the batter. Put in the oven and bake for about an hour or until a knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Leave the bread to stand in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack; this will prevent it from falling apart.

Serve in thick slices on its own or spread with butter or honey. This banana bread is even better the following day – if there’s any left.

Cocinando con gozo

Welcome, joyful cooks! This blog comes to you from Yaoundé, Cameroon, in an attempt to share some of the delicious foods I've been making here. You'll find influences from the U.S., Latin America, and of course, Cameroon. Delightfully, many of the ingredients from Ecuador and Mexico, like beans, yucca, tomatoes, garlic, hot peppers, and rice, are also available here, so I'm having a great time playing around with a variety of flavors. Hope you have as much fun as I do trying them!