At its core, enyucado is a traditional Colombian dessert made with shredded yuca, queso, and anise, all wrapped in a delectable pastry. But the beauty of this dish lies in its versatility and the many different ways it can be prepared and enjoyed. The starchy yuca holds the dish together, while the cheese, sugar and spice add a sweet and savory component to each bite. The resulting batter is baked to golden brown perfection. Passed down from generations of Colombian cooks, the enyucado is easy to make and absolutely delicious to serve as a dessert or side dish.
This recipe hails from Chef Stephanie Bonnin from Brooklyn’s La Tropikitchen. La Tropikitchen gained recognition for its handcrafted Colombian food served from Stephanie’s Bushwick apartment. Patrons would wait hours to receive her arepas, enyucados, and bollos, directly from her bedroom window. If that isn’t a testament to Stephanie’s talents, I don’t know what is. Today, Stephanie continues to learn from local women and share her passion for Colombia’s cuisine with the New York consumer.
“More than a chef, I think of myself as a food ethnographer. Colombian food (and other Latin American food) has been homogenized and so my research has been about rediscovering regional cuisines through culture and gastronomic traditions. Colombia has deserts, jungles, mountains, great plains, and coastal areas, so local cuisine often evolves as an adaptation to the specific ingredients, resources, climate, immigration, and political realities of the territory. These culinary conditions are common throughout South America and oftentimes contradict arbitrary geographic boundaries. Ever since I was a child, I spent lots of hours in the kitchen, watching with endless curiosity how my food was made. After graduating and working abroad, I decided to become a cook when I had trouble finding quality food while living abroad and feeling homesick. I couldn’t understand why it was so hard to find or recreate the dishes I had grown up with. Soon after, I decided to work in a commercial kitchen and attend culinary school and create it for myself, my family, and my friends. This was the start of it all for me.
Growing up on the Colombian Caribbean coast I saw women in the streets working hard to earn enough to make a living. Many would cook and carry large containers of homemade sweets made of yuca, coconut, papaya, pineapple, sesame seeds, and panela, on their heads around the city, yelling: “enyucado, caballito, cocada, alegria”. This was part of the original sweets people enjoyed as children before imported refined sugar-based candy filled our stores.
A great enyucado is a perfect blend of flavors and textures. It isn’t too sweet and fills you with happiness and energy. A warm homemade enyucado really creates a special moment. As with most homemade things, every woman and family has a specific and special way of making it.”
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Enyucado – Colombian Yuca and Coconut Cake from La Tropikitchen
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Enyucado is a traditional Colombian dessert made with shredded yuca, queso, and anise, that makes for a delicious pastry.
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb of Yuca
- 10 oz of Coconut
- 12 oz of Queso Fresco
- 12 oz of Sugar
- 6.5 oz of Butter
- 6 oz of Coconut Cream
- Pinch of Star Anise
Instructions
- Grate the yuca, coconut, and cheese.
- Combine them with the sugar, softened butter, cream, and a pinch of anise.
- Transfer the mixture into a well-greased mold.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Colombian
