Malanga Fritters {Frituras de Malanga}

Cubans love their food. We love every aspect of it. The ingredients, process, technique ,and final plate. Even if it’s the most basic of food, we’re proud and love to share. One of my favorite childhood appetizers were cabbage fritters or frituras de col. Yum, yum, yum. I loved watching my mother shred the cabbage and plop a big ball into the hot oil. The goodness that hot pan yielded made the 5 of us happy, obedient kids. We wanted more.

Many more. 

This post came out of no where today. I woke up craving fritters. Not cabbage ones, though. I had malanga on the mind. It was my favorite root tuber growing up  (yuca is now the reina over here!).  Mami used to make this mean, mean malanga purée when any of us got sick. A drizzle of olive oil and we were eating instagoodness. And just that fast we felt better. She seldom makes purée anymore but she uses malanga in every soup recipe. It’s good in soup, but never as special as the soft, buttery purée. 

No soup or cabbage and a craving meant malanga fritters! I had 3 medium size ones and I went to work. I had visions in my head of how they were going to turn out and how incredibly happy my early lunch was going to be.  

Shredding anything is my least part of cooking so why I enjoyed watching Mami do it, is a mystery. There’s nothing exciting about it and all it does is result in arm soreness. But the fritters were going to be IT so who cares about a 10 minute fatigue, right?! 

A very traditional recipe calls for parsley as the single herb. I wanted to fancy it up a bit and added some fresh fennel. The smell was great but I ended up having to increase the amount. The parsley was overpowering the single teaspoon, so I doubled it. And, I wanted some kick so a pinch of cayenne was thrown into the mix. 

Garlic as you know, is part my holy trinity. 

I  used some oil from last night’s plantain fry (which I didn’t mind) and channeled my inner kid while scooping big rounds into the skillet. 

 My friends,  I ate 8 fritters by myself about 3 hours ago.

I was so serious about getting this done! 

I wasted no time snapping these few shots all so I could get to the plate. 

And now I’m happy, full, and excited about making some more for some friends this weekend. 

Now if I could figure out how to keep Mami pacified when I let her know I didn’t save her a single one. 

Make these! Experience the fried love… but make sure to share… 

Eat well, love unapologetically, pray with true intention, and take care of yourself.

Follow the sexy & delicious fun on

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+ |YOUTUBE

Don't forget to check out my debut cookbook!

Enjoy

FRITURAS DE MALANGA {MALANGA FRITTERS]

Ingredients:

• 3 medium-sized malanga, washed and peeled
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. apple vinegar
• 2 tsp. curly parsley, small chop
• 2 tsp. fennel, minced
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Method:

In big bowl, shred malanga using cheese shredder. Add egg and remaining ingredients into bowl. Blend well. Use hands if necessary.

Heat canola oil in 12″ non-stick skillet. Drop tablespoon worth of mixture into skillet and fry until golden brown on each side.

Place paper towel on plate. Using a  slotted spoon, transfer fritters onto plate and allow excess oil to absorb.

Garnish with fennel and parley. Serve immediately.

Yields 12 fritters.