If it's summertime on the beach in Puerto Rico, what do you eat? An alcapurria! And although alcapurrias are typically made with a mixture of root vegetables, we're going to show you how to make a super easy alcapurria with just yuca. This delicious treat is the perfect appetizer for any party, any time!
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground yuca
1 tbs sofrito
1 tbs achiotte oil
1 tbs vegetable shortening
1 pkt sazon
1 tsp salt
1 lb picadillo (check out our recipe HERE)
Let’s start by preparing our yuca. I’m using pre-ground yuca so we don’t need to worry about peeling and grinding it. However, we still need to remove any excess water from our yuca; otherwise, the alcapurrias won’t hold their shape.
To do this, place your yuca in the middle of a clean, thin kitchen towel. Then wrap up the yuca and squeeze it until all of the liquid is expelled. You’ll be surprised by how much water you remove, so keep squeezing until it’s dry.
Once your yuca is dry, remove it from the cloth and put it back in your mixing bowl. The yuca should look like dry ricotta cheese at this point. Now add the rest of your masa ingredients; the sofrito; achiote oil, salt, sazon, and vegetable shortening.
Once you’ve added all of your ingredients, blend it together with a fork. Keep mixing until everything is homogeneously combined and there are no big clumps of white yuca.
With your masa ready, all you need to do now is shape your alcapurrias. There are a couple of ways to do this, but we’ll start with what I think is the easiest way. Start by putting down a piece of wax paper on a table and then brushing it with vegetable oil, to prevent your alcapurria from sticking to it. Next, add about half a cup of your masa to the wax paper and flatten it into a disc, creating a slight depression in the middle. Once your dough is flat, add about two or three heaping tablespoons of your filling in the center of the disc. Next, use your wax paper to fold the alcapurria in two, folding the dough completely over the filling. Press down around the edges of the alcapurria to seal the dough together. With the alcapurria generally formed, you can detach it from the wax paper and use your hands to shape it into a smooth cylinder.
Now although I think the wax paper can be helpful, you can also just make your alcapurrias with your hands. To do this, spread a little oil on your hands and then squeeze about a half cup of the dough into a disc on your hands. Then, as before, spoon some filling into the middle of your dough and then seal the dough around the filling. Finally, shape your alcapurrias into a smooth cylinder and set it aside for frying.
This recipe will make approximately 6 alcapurrias, depending on how big you make them.
Once your alcapurrias are shaped, let’s fry them.
Start by adding your oil to a wide, heavy sauce pan. You should add enough oil to at least cover about two-thirds of your alcapurrias.
Turn your stove on to medium-high heat and heat your oil to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
Once your oil is hot, use a spatula to gently transfer your alcapurrias into your pan so that they don’t break apart accidentally.
Fry your alcapurrias for approximately 7-8 minutes, flipping every two minutes. At the end of this period, your alcapurrias should be a deep golden brown and crispy on the outside. If your alcapurrias are getting too dark, turn down the temperature a little bit. You want to make sure your alcapurrias are cooked all the way through.
Check out our instructional video, showing how to make this recipe step-by-step HERE.