Brazilian yuca balls stuffed with cheese (Bolinho de Macaxeira)
Easy recipe for fried cassava or yuca balls stuffed with cheese or meat. This delicious Brazilian snack,called “Bolinho de Macaxeira” is tasty fritter made with manioc (yuca/cassava root) and a cheesy filling. This recipe and text is contributed by our guest blogger Andressa Vieira.
These delicious fried yuca balls stuffed with cheese are made with manioc root, also known as cassava or yuca. ln Brazil, cassava is also called “macaxeira” or “aipim”. It’s a popular snack in my country, usually served at bars, pubs or family/ friends’ gatherings.
These fried mashed yuca or cassava balls go well with an endless variety of fillings and sauces. In my hometown, we usually fill it with shredded jerky (charque desfiada), and with or without cheese. But you can also use a variety of different fillings, including ground sausage, shredded or ground meat, chicken and even shrimp.
“Charque” is a kind of jerk beef very common in Brazil’s northeast, a little tricky to prepare. It’s extremely salty, made to last for along time, even out of the fridge. This was necessary because it’s a typical food from “sertão”, the semi-arid region of Brazil, known for its long droughts. Many people who live there still have no fridge. If you fill these balls with charque, don’t add any additional salt to the yuca dough.
Manioc or cassava is one of the staples of northeast cuisine,together with coconut (dry of fresh). It’s a root, made out almost exclusively of water and starch. It doesn’t have many nutrients, but it offers a good amount of energy and it’s very filling. Its very mild flavor makes it suitable to prepare savory or sweet dishes alike.
We eat manioc or yuca cooked with butter, cheese or meat, eggs and sardines; or fried, with shredded Parmesan cheese over it. Also, “escondidinho de macaxeira” (grated manioc puree with shredded jerk and coalho cheese), manioc cake, “pé-de-moleque” cake, Souza Leão cake, and many others.
Indigenous people in Brazil used to grate the manioc and put it to dry under the sun. It then becomes another of our treasures: manioc flour, which we use in everything. Manioc cooks in about 20 minutes, more or less. It’s good when it “cracks” and opens itself, and becomes soft, but still resistant. Some types become a puree easily, which is also good, but not for this recipe.
If you live in North America/Europe it is harder to find fresh cassava or manioc, and when you find it’s not usually the best quality. However, it has become easier to find it frozen (of better quality) at most Latin – and surprisingly Asian supermarkets.If you cook it from frozen it will take a little longer, about 40 minutes to cook until tender.
Some recipes add egg and flour to the dough, to make it easy to mold the balls. It’s a popular version, but I don’t like it, because I find it too dense and “sweet”, because of the increased amount of starch. Remember that manioc consists almost only of water + starch.
But I’ve also prepared this version, and if you want to try it, add an additional cup of smashed manioc, one egg and two tablespoons of flour. If the dough is too sticky to mold, don’t put more flour, and use two spoons to fry the balls in the oil.
How to peel yuca, manioc or cassava root
Even in Brazil, many stores sell it already unpeeled and frozen. This way, it lasts forever, if you keep it frozen. When you decide to cook it, boil some water with salt. When it’s boiling, add the manioc still frozen in the water.
If you buy the cassava fresh with the bark, make a longitudinal shallow cut, fit the knife inside the cut and take the peel out, the brown one and also the inner skin, white and resistant, which can also be pinkish. After you get used to it, it’s easy!
How to serve fried yuca balls
These fried yuca balls can be served with different dipping sauces, the most traditional options include this onion and tomato salsa, or a mayo ketchup mixed sauce called salsa rosada. You can also serve them with an avocado salsa (less traditional, but delicious) or a cilantro aioli sauce.
Brazilian manioc or cassava balls stuffed with cheese {Bolinho de Macaxeira}
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of cooked and mashed yuca or cassava root
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- Salt and black pepper
- Cilantro or parsley finely chopped
- Breadcrumbs or flour to coat
- Diced mozzarella cheese
- Oil enough to fry the balls
Serving sauce suggestions:
Instructions
- Cook the manioc or cassava in water and salt, but don’t let it get too soft. You’ll know when it’s ready when you stick it with a fork and it opens itself. If you are cooking fresh cassava, it will take about 20-30 minutes to cook, depending on how young it is. If you are cooking it from frozen, then it will take closer to 40 minutes. Keep an eye on it during the last minutes to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
- Drain all the water, remove the center stringy part of the cassava (if you didn’t remove them before boiling), and smash the cassava while still hot with a fork. Don’t let it cool off, otherwise it becomes hard to mash.
- Add the butter and mix well with a wooden spoon.
- Add salt, pepper and fresh cilantro/parsley. Taste and add more seasonings, if needed. If the dough is dry, you can add additional butter or oil as needed.
- Mold the dough into little balls and fill each one with cheese (and meat if using).
- Coat them with flour or breadcrumbs.
- For best results you can refrigerate the cassava balls for 30 minutes to an hour before frying – this will help keep the cheese filling from leaking out while frying.
- Fry the mashed cassava balls in hot oil, the oil must be very hot, otherwise the balls will be mushy.
- Place the cassava balls on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the oil excess,
- Serve the warm fried mashed cassava or manioc balls with a dipping sauce. I suggest a chilli sauce, a salsa rosada or golf sauce (ketchup mixed with mayonnaise), or a tomato onion curtido style salsa.
Notes
How to peel fresh manioc or cassava/yuca root:
Step by step preparation photos for the Brazilian fried mashed manioc or cassava balls stuffed with cheese (and meat):
Variation of Brazilian manioc or cassava balls for fritters using egg and flour in the dough preparation:
Additional recipe with yuca or cassava to try:
with tapioca starch and can be filled with grated coconut, butter, cheese, or
condensed milk.
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Thank you for all your wonderful recipes I just love your site and use them all they always turn out fantastic
Yes. I am Brazilian, from Northwest -the region where this kind of food is a thing!- and it’s exactly like that. My husband is from USA and he loves it badly too. Thanks for sharing it ??
Looks so yummy:) My Colombian friend makes cassava cheese rolls, the idea is a bit similar.