It’s a Carimanolas kind of day

My youngest son, who is a Junior in High School, had a Spanish project which involved making a food from a Spanish speaking country and bringing it to class for the rest of the class to try.  He decided to make a Panamanian food called Carimanolas.  They are made with Yucca…I’m not sure what Yucca is, but I took a picture of it.  It’s very shiny and has lots of wonderful texture.  I placed a couple of jalapenos next to the to demonstrate the size of these things.

My son’s mis en plas (everything in place), which he learned from his daddy and a cooking class he took at school.

The recipe and spices.

Here he is peeling the Yucca.  The skin is very waxy and the firmness of the “fruit” (?) or “veg” (?) is similar to a butternut squash.  His hand was hurting after peeling and chopping 4 yuccas.

Once he set the yucca to boiling on the stove (similar to boiling potatoes), he began cooking the filling of hamburger, jalapenos, onions, garlic and lots of different spices.  The filling was kind of sweet/spicy/meaty.

After the filling is made, a dough is made out of the boiled and mashed Yucca, adding flour and some spiced.  A small dough ball is made of the yucca and it is stuffed with the spicy meats.  Then it is dipped in egg and bread crumbs so that it can be deep fried.

He looks like a deer in the headlights, but this is the product right before it gets fried up.

My husband handled the dough ball making, stuffing and frying.  He’s such a trooper.  He walked in the door from work and immediately began helping my son.  Being the meaner parent, I took pictures and helped very little…I chopped up the onions and garlic.

Here’s the final product.  I think they are a kind of “street food” because they are served at room temp without any sauce.

Neither chef tasted the creation.  I thought a cardinal rule of every chef was to make sure you taste before you serve…

I didn’t taste it either.

Loooks good, though.