SAVORY CASSAVA- CARROT WAFFLES OR TORTILLAS

Cassava Pizza (Paleo, Whole30, Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Happy Sunday guys! 🙋💝 

I remember now about 15 years ago I made my first cassava/yuca/mandioca pizza, it was a day that I did not have enough to cook and a couple of friends showed up, they had not eaten, and always in my home, anyone that appeared at the lunchtime was served a plate of food with anything we had at that time.

However, how tasty it was with very few ingredients, I never did it again until now. I have a friend on Instagram called Lauren, she is a blogger like me that loves yuca, in fact, her blog it`s called Crazy for Yuca, she makes lots of amazing recipes using the root, and with its flour too, and I decided to make it my way because I like the diversity that you can make with this amazing and healthy root.

I know in Latin America and Africa there are a bunch of recipes with yuca, and my country has some too but I don`t know why yuca is not on every house daily because it`s being so needy to look for solutions for better feeding of the population with products of the field like the yuca instead of looking for wheat flour that is imported and it`s not good for health. There was a time in the 90s when the food was more deficient than today and this kind of pizza was sold on the streets, but since then it disappeared again.

The other day I heard that this kind of pizza is being made in our hotels to feed the persons that go to spend a vacation there, I am pleased to know that but at the same time, I am sad that my people don`t have access to eat it everywhere, it`s sustainable and nutritional food and there is no reason it does not available.

Anyway, here most of the people have access to buy it, it`s sold generally in the Spanish, Vietnamese, and African markets, also some American markets carry it.

The best way I can find it`s to help is by posting a recipe for everyone, explaining it step by step, and letting you know the possible variants it has.

Cassava is gluten-free, paleo, whole30, AIP (Auto-Immune Paleo), vegan, filled with minerals, vitamins,  high in carbs, fiber, and calories, also provides a healthy gut working as starch resistant, don`t know what is this?  see this post.

I am testing to see which of my recipes is the best, the first one I did was at an average rate, this one is amazing, but I want to upgrade it for another one, I will post again and let you know.

This pizza it`s very customizable, you can add any cheese in and on the dough, take out the garlic, eggs, oregano, and baking powder and make it only with mashed yuca with salt and the chosen oil, also when you flatten the dough the result is more crispy and when you don't do this, like mine, the result is denser but moist on the inside and crispy outside 😋

CASSAVA PIZZA (Paleo, Whole30, Vegan, Gluten-Free)

Preparation Time: 20 min
Chill Time: 20 min
Baking Time: 30 + 10 min
Total Time: 1 h 20 min
The recipe makes 8 slices
                                                                                                                                    

Ingredients Pizza Crust:

1. 4 cups mashed cassava (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2. 2 eggs (optional)
3. 1 tsp ground garlic
4. 1/2 tsp oregano
5. sea salt to taste
6. 4 tbsp butter, ghee, coconut, or avocado oil
7. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

To put on:

• Cheese (vegan or dairy)
• Tomato sauce
• Any chopped meat or fish, ground meat, ham, bacon, pepperoni, etc
• Vegetables
• 1 tbsp olive oil (to drizzle over when is baked)

Vegan Cheese Recipe (Paleo, Whole30, Vegan Gluten-Free, Keto)   

Recipe by theorganickitchen.org                                              

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup raw cashews
2. 1 tbsp virgin olive oil
3. 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
4. 2- 2 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (adjust to your preference)
5. 1/4 cup filtered water 
6. 1/4-1/2 tsp sea or Himalayan salt (adjust to your preference)
7. 1/4 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

Peel, slice, and boil the yuca pieces if it is fresh, it is frozen throw directly in a large pot with abundant salty water, until fork tender for about 15 minutes, but don`t overcook them. 

Immediately strain in a colander and discard the water, remove and discard the stick that is in the center of each one. Let to achieve room temperature, for better results to work with,  take them to the fridge until is cool, this is what I did.

Preheat the oven at 400 F, and grease a pizza pan, a large iron skillet, or divide the dough into a small pizza crust.

In a food processor, throw half of the pieces with 1 tbsp of butter or another oil and half of the ground garlic, process until a bowl forms, don`t overprocess because of will be sticky, take it to a large bowl and repeat the same steps with the remaining pieces, also it can be made mashing with a fork until all is well mixed.
  

In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the rest of the ingredients.

With your hands, mix all together, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and you can make a ball with it. Let it rest for about 20-30 minutes. Decide if you want a whole thick pizza or around 4 thin smaller. 

2 Ways to Make the Pizza Crust:

1 - Take two pieces of parchment paper, put the dough on the bottom of one of them, cover with the other and roll up until the desired thickness, then take it to the greased pizza pan.

2 -  With your hands throw the dough on the greased pan, it will be sticky, fix it with your fingers until the desired thickness, or take it again to the fridge for some minutes to be able to work with it.

I did the second one this time, and increase the thickness of the edges with my fingers so that the tomato sauce does not drip out, but it`s up to you to make this or not.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes clean and it has spots golden brown.

By that time you should have prepared the tomato sauce and anything that fits your taste to put on it, chopped meat or ground meat, ham, shredded or sliced cheese, onion, red bell pepper, veggies, etc that. 

How to make vegan cheese? 

I recommend do this early or the day before and let the cheese set in the fridge for several hours to harden, then slice or shave it finely.

it`s very easy to make it: soak the raw cashews overnight or at least 4-5 hour in boiling water, drain, put on the food processor with the rest of the ingredients, and process it until it`s smooth, scraping the sides as needed, once it`s done pour on the greased glass container, but if you don`t have time, pour on the meat and veggies you like to add tablespoon by tablespoon. 

Take out the cassava pizza from the oven.

Pour on it the tomato sauce and spread it evenly, then the rest of the tops you want to, and take it back to the oven at the same temperature between 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and vegetables are wilted.

Take it out, cut in the desired slices you want, and make a good and healthy salad as a side dish. Enjoy!

Note: You can make the cassava dough the day before or early so only you have to put on the pan and bake it, then add the desired top, and 40 minutes later you are enjoying it.

Will you make it? What is your preferred pizza crust?

I want to see your creations! Follow me, tag, or pin the recipe when you do it.

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If you are interested in other cassava/yuca recipes see below.

SAVORY CASSAVA- CARROT WAFFLES OR TORTILLAS

PALEO SPONGY CASSAVA FLOUR VANILLA CAKE

SANDWICH BREAD

Remember that "Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one". Astrid Alauda. 

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