Nuegados de Yuca

Nuegados de yuca are El Salvador’s irresistible Easter fritters: grated cassava and cheese fried into crisp-outside, chewy-inside bites, then drowned in miel de panela — a spiced raw-sugar syrup with cinnamon and cloves.

The salty-cheese-meets-caramel-syrup combination is the whole show: crunchy, soft, sweet and savory in a single bite. They are traditional for Semana Santa, but nobody polices the calendar.

Cassava (yuca) is easy to find fresh or frozen at Latin markets — the one non-negotiable step is squeezing the grated root as dry as you can, which keeps the fritters together in the oil.

Nuegados de Yuca Recipe

Prep time: 10 minutes · Cook time: 30 minutes · Total: 40 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~353 per serving

Ingredients

• For the nuegados:
• 2 cups grated raw cassava (yuca), squeezed dry
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup grated hard cheese (or flour, as an alternative)
• Salt, to taste
• Oil or lard, for frying
• For the panela syrup:
• 1 cup panela pieces
• 1 cup water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 whole cloves

Instructions

1. Combine the grated cassava, eggs, baking powder, salt and cheese into a smooth dough.
2. Heat oil or lard in a skillet over medium-high heat.
3. With wet hands, shape the dough into balls and flatten slightly.
4. Fry in small batches until golden on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels.
5. For the syrup: dissolve the panela in the water with the cinnamon and cloves over medium heat, stirring.
6. Simmer over low heat 10 to 15 minutes, until it lightly coats a spoon.
7. Arrange the nuegados on a platter, drizzle generously with the warm syrup, and serve.

Recipe Notes

• Squeeze the cassava truly dry — it is the difference between fritters and fragments.
• Mozzarella, Monterey Jack or queso fresco melt gently; cotija or Parmesan push it saltier.
• Orange zest, ginger or anise in the syrup are lovely variations; brown sugar substitutes for panela in a pinch.
• Best warm, still good at room temperature, and — speaking from experience — not bad cold from the fridge either.