Where I come from Venezuela, yucca (or cassava) is a very popular tuber in the daily diet. For those who don't know it, it is an elongated root similar to a brown trunk on the outside but internally it is white like a potato. Also when this tuber is cooked in boiling water its texture becomes as soft as a puree but creamier, which makes it ideal for baked dishes or cakes like the one we are going to talk about today.
Yucca pie is a gluten, sugar and dairy free specialty that I learned from my grandmother, suitable for the whole family. It is usually used as a tuna protein, but this time we will make it with a delicious chicken breast stew. Now, let's get to work!
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of yucca.
- 1 Chicken breast.
- 1 bell pepper.
- 1 carrot.
- 1 Chile.
- Oil to taste.
- 1 liter of water.
- 1 Tomato sauce or paste.
- 200 grams of chopped onion.
- Seasoning and salt to taste.
Procedure:
Step 1
First we turn on the oven at medium temperature (+/- 200°C). In a pot half full of water, add a spoonful of salt and the peeled and cut into pieces yucca.
Step 2
Parallel to step 1 in another pot we place in boiling water with the chicken breast to cook it until it is completely white with no trace of pink.
Step 3
Once the chicken is cooked we remove it from the pot and start shredding it.
Step 4
In a frying pan heat about three tablespoons of oil and then place the following finely chopped vegetables: onion, bell pepper, chili (optional if you like spicy) and sauté.
Step 5
In the sauté pan add the shredded chicken along with the tomato sauce or paste, seasoning and salt to taste and then mix the ingredients in the hot pan.
Step 6
We check that the yucca pieces are soft, then we turn off and remove the water in its entirety. Take the yucca pieces and set them aside until they are pureed.
Step 7
Once the yucca is mashed and our chicken stew is ready to serve as stuffing, we take a glass bowl, spread it with lard, ghee (graded butter) or vegetable oil and spread half of the mash on the bottom of it.
Step 8
On top of the external mashed cassava the filling of our pie (the chicken stew), then cover it with the rest of the mashed cassava that we previously reserved.
Step 9
Place our chicken stuffed cassava pie in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until a crust forms on top. Remove from the oven, cut a slice and bon appetit!
All images are my authorship and property. The pictures were taken with my Xiaomi Redmi 9A 13MP cell phone camera.