Many cassava-based dishes are consumed in the regions where cassava (Manihot esculenta, also called 'manioc' or 'yuca') is cultivated. Manihot esculenta is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes.
As a food ingredient, cassava root is somewhat similar to the potato in that it is starchy and bland in flavor when cooked. Cassava can be prepared in similar ways to potato; it can be boiled, mashed, fried or baked. Unlike the potato, however, cassava is mostly a tropical crop, and its peculiar characteristics have led to recipes, such as sweet puddings, which have no common potato version.
In some parts of the world (chiefly in Africa and some Southeast Asian nations like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines), cassava leaves are also cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
Raw cassava, especially the bitter variety, contains cyanogenic glycosides and normally must be cooked before eating or turned into a stable intermediate product through a series of processes to reduce the toxins in the cassava to a level safe for human consumption. The typical process in West Africa and Central America includes peeling, mashing, fermenting, sun-drying and toasting. Popular intermediate products obtained from processing cassava tubers include garri, tapioca and cassava flour.
Caribbean In many Caribbean islands, cassava flour is made into a round-shaped flat bread called casabe or "cassava bread".
Cuba Cassava is a staple of Cuban cuisine. Besides casabe bread, it is prepared as a side dish: boiled, then covered with raw onion rings and sizzling garlic-infused olive oil. It is also boiled, then cut into strips and fried to make yuca frita (similar to French fries). Yuca is also one of the main ingredients in ajiaco, a traditional Cuban stew, along with potatoes, malanga, boniato (sweet potato), plantain, ñame, corn and other vegetables. Cuban buñuelos, a local variation of a traditional Spanish fritter (similar to the French beignet), are made with cassava and sweet potato instead of flour. These are fried and topped off with anisette-flavored sugar syrup. Yuca chips, "chicharritas de yuca", are often consumed as a side dish or a snack. These chips are deep-fried thin rings of the root.
Traditional Cuban churros were historically prepared with yuca paste and that is the way they are still made in most Cuban households; however, most churro-making street carts and cafeterias in the island and in Miami use yuca flour to create the dough nowadays.
Haiti Cassava (Haitian Creole: kasav) () is a popular starch and common staple in Haiti, where it is often eaten as part of a meal or occasionally by itself. It is usually eaten in bread form, often with peanut butter spread on the top or with milk. Cassava flour, known as musa or moussa, is boiled to create a meal of the same name. Cassava can also be eaten with various stews and soups, such as the traditional pumpkin soup referred to as soup joumou. Cassava flour is also used to make a Haitian cookie called . The root vegetable yuca is grated, rinsed well, dried, salted, and pressed to form flat cakes about in diameter and thick.
Dominican Republic As an alternative to side dishes like French fries, arepitas de yuca are consumed, which are deep-fried buttered lumps of shredded cassava with egg and anis. Bollitos, similar to carimañola in Colombia and Panama, are also made. Empanada called catibía has its dough made out of water, oil, cassava flour or boiled mashed cassava. Peeled, boiled and eaten with pickled onions, mojo or other root vegetables like potatoes, ñame, yams, batata (sweet potatoes) and yautía (dasheen). Cassava is used to make chulos, mainly in the Cibao region: grated cassava and are shaped into a cylindrical form, much like a croquette, stuffed with meat or cheese and fried. Cassava is an important ingredient for sancocho.
Puerto Rico The root, in its boiled and peeled form, is present in the typical Puerto Rican stew, the sancocho, together with plantains, potatoes, yautía, among other vegetables (it can also be eaten singly as an alternative to boiled potatoes or plantains). It can be ground and used as a paste (masa) to make a typically Puerto Rican Christmas dish called pasteles or hallaca. These are similar to Mexican tamales in appearance but are made with root vegetables, plantains, or yuca instead of corn. Pasteles are rectangular and have a meat filling in the center, usually chicken or pork. They are wrapped in a plantain leaf. Empanadas are known as pastelitos except when made with cassava masa. The empanada is popular among beach side and filled with crab, shrimp, octopus and other meats. Guanimes are also smilier to tamales; they are made with yuca or plantains mashed with corn meal, wrapped in banana leaf and are shape like a log. Masa made from cassava mixed with yautía root is also used for alcapurrias. These are filled with meat or seafood similar to pasteles but are fried instead. Yuca in Puerto Rico is also fried, smashed with garlic, olive oil, broth and then stuffed with chicharrón or bacon to make mofongo de yuca. Casabe bread also is a traditional food made from yuca, but is no longer very commonly eaten. Casaba bread can come in many different flavors such as garlic and cheese or a sweater version with sugar, cheese and bits of coconut meat. Escabeche de yuca, cassava and chicken gizzards pickled in a garlicky brine with onions and olives. Serernata de Bacalao, salted cod fish mixed with cassava and other tropical root vegetables, green bananas, cabbage, chayote, hard boiled eggs, and avocado. Rusiao de yuca like pasteles are made from grated cassava that has been dehydrated, toasted, then notably rehydrate with coconut milk into masa and seasoned with anis, mashed or finely chopped chicharrón, oregano among other ingredients. They are then wrapped in banana leaf and grilled. Rellenos de yuca are fitters made with boiled mashed cassava, milk, eggs, cornstarch, butter, and filled with meat, cheese, seafood, or vegetable and fried. Pastelillos de yuca are basically empanadas made with tapioca, milk, butter or lard, annatto, eggs, vinegar or vodka.
Cassava is also used in sweets. Cazuela a pie made with yuca, squash, sweet potato, coconut and other ingredients. Spiced cookies called alfajor made from cassava are sold all over the island and very popular during the Christmas season. Flan a popular custard in Latin American is also prepared with cassava in some regions on the island. Tortilla de yuca is a sweet bread like dessert with cassava, coconut milk, spices, ginger, rasians and vanilla. Churros was once a popular snack brought over by the Spanish. In Puerto Rico churros were traditionally made with flour, cassava, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and egg.
Jamaica In Jamaica, cassava is traditionally made into bammy, a small fried cassava cake inherited from the native Arawak Indians. The cassava root is grated, rinsed well, dried, salted, and pressed to form flat cakes about in diameter and thick. The cakes are baked until firm and can be stored for a long time if properly done. These can be prepared by dipping in coconut milk, water or regular milk and fried. Bammies are usually served as a starchy side dish with breakfast, with fish dishes or alone as a snack. Finely grated cassava is also added to European-style pancakes, replacing part of the wheat flour.
Bammy cakes are used to serve fried fish at roadside stands (similar to taco shells, although the flavor is nothing like corn or flour taco shells.) These cakes are made from grated bitter cassava (Manihot utilissima Pohl) root which has been carefully processed to remove toxic compounds. The grated cassava is rinsed and pressed through woven "bammy bags" (the runoff of which contains cyanide and is very toxic to humans and livestock) and fried into flat round "cakes". The sweet cassava root, M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, is boiled and used like potatoes in stews. (This observation is based on Farming Systems Research conducted in Jamaica in 1990 under the auspices of the Jamaican Agricultural Development Foundation and the University of Florida in Gainesville.)
The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands In The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, cassava is made into a bread, or is eaten boiled, either alone or with sweet potatoes, cabbage, plantains, and meat. Alternatively, it is cooked in soups with okra or with dumplings, or sometimes made as a cake.
Dominica The native Kalinago people of Dominica rely on cassava as a staple crop. Traditional "bread" is made by grinding cassava root, blending it with water (and sometimes coconut shavings) and frying it on large solid metal grills. Cassava bread cooked in this fashion is tough and chewy and can be used for wraps or sandwiches. It is most often eaten by itself. The Caribs have multiple small stations along Dominica's main highway where locals cook cassava bread in open-air kitchens for onlookers and tourists.
Trinidad and Tobago In Trinidad and Tobago and other islands in the eastern and southern Caribbean, cassava is traditionally peeled, boiled, and served with flour dumplings and other root vegetables such as potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes and dasheen. It is also stir-fried with other root vegetables and onions, coconut milk, and either salt fish or smoked herring to create a dish commonly called "Oil-down". A form of cassava bread called cassava pone is also found in Trinidad and Tobago, which was adopted from the cuisine of the local Amerindian tribe.
Bermuda Cassava pie is a traditional Christmas dish in Bermuda. The cassava is normally bought frozen, washed through a cotton cloth, squeezed dry, then mixed with egg, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar. It is either layered in a baking dish in alternate layers with chicken or pork, or cassava alone. It is then baked in the oven for a few hours to kill the toxins. It is eaten as a savoury dish alongside other traditional Christmas fare, such as roast turkey and baked ham. It is often available year-round cooked at most supermarket lunch delis.
Garifuna Among the Garifuna, cassava bread (ereba) is prepared in an ancient and time-consuming process involving a long, snake-like woven basket (ruguma) which strains the cassava of its juice. It is then dried overnight and later sieved through flat rounded baskets () to form flour that is baked into pancakes on a large iron griddle. Ereba is eaten with fish, (pounded green and ripe plantains) or alone with gravy ().
Central America
Belize In Belize, cassava is traditionally made into bammy, a small fried cassava cake inherited from the Garifuna. The bile up (or boil up) is considered the cultural dish of the Kriols. It is a combination of boiled eggs, fish or pig tail, with a number of ground foods such as cassava, green plantains, yams, sweet potatoes, and tomato sauce. The cassava root is grated, rinsed well, salted, and pressed to form flat cakes about in diameter and thick. The cakes are lightly fried, then dipped in coconut milk and fried again. Bammies are usually served as a starchy side dish with breakfast, with fish dishes, or alone as a snack. Cassava pone is a traditional Kriol and pan-West Indian dessert recipe for a cassava flour cake sometimes made with coconuts and raisins.
Costa Rica In Costa Rica, cassava is widely used, either boiled in soups or fried and served with pieces of fried pork and lime, the latter often sold as a snack. When travelling by bus, the bus is often boarded by a local trying to sell snacks of yuca, pork and lime. Two main sources of food for locals in rural areas, living off resources within their own land, are yuca and plantain.
El Salvador