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| Yuca/Cassava/Manioc (Manihot esculenta) |
Yuca, cassava, and manioc are only some of the commonly used names for this tuberous root that I purchased from the ethnic store on Friday. It's scientific name is Manihot esculenta. I grew up calling it manioc.
I cooked it for our brunch on Monday. Cassava has to be carefully peeled and washed before cooking because there is a poisonous layer containing cyanide just under the brown peel. Fortunately, the whole peel and the poisonous layer comes off as one rind if you cut into it and pry it off the tuber with the tip of a knife. But, if you just scrape off only the brown peel, the reddish layer under it is poisonous and must be removed.
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| Cassava Peel and Semi-Peeled Section |
I was showing my daughter how to remove the peel properly - you can see the rind that I peeled off in one piece at the top and a semi-peeled section just below it, where I had just scraped off the thin brown peel to reveal the reddish toxic layer containing cyanide which should be removed before cooking and eating (although, cooking will remove most of the cyanide). I peeled off the reddish layer after I took this picture.
Then, I washed the peeled and cut root and boiled it in salted water with a little turmeric added to it, which is how I learned how to cook manioc. Depending on how much turmeric you add, it changes the color of the manioc from white to light yellow to a deeper yellow. Mine turned out almost orange!
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| Boiled Manioc with Lunu Miris |
I served the cooked manioc with some lunu miris, which is a mixture of dried red chilies, onions, lime juice, Maldive fish powder (a type of dried tuna), and salt. It was delicious and obviously, I cleaned it well because both my daughter and I are well and alive. LOL.
By the way, some stores do sell pre-cleaned frozen yuca, but, I prefer to buy the root and cut and clean it myself.
Have you eaten yuca/cassava/manioc?
