The Recipe to Rule All Recipes

Honestly, this one is PRECIOUS. I know you've been missing flour tortillas and fried dumplings.

Yuca root is a versatile starch worth checking out. It can replace your grains and potatoes and give you the illusion of normal eating. Yuca root is also called cassava, tapioca, and manioc. You'll be looking for either the fresh roots, or frozen varieties in your local asian market. To help in your search, we've noticed that fresh root is usually called yuca, or manioc in latin markets, the frozen is called cassava, and the flour is called tapioca. All the same ingredient though!

In addition to the yuca, you'll need a little oil and salt, and for hardware, a food processor, a piece of parchment, and a tortilla press.

If you find the frozen grated cassava, make sure it's a brand without preservatives. There are several brands out there, so just check the ingredients. We have found these pretty consistently all across the country, even if we've had to check out multiple asian markets in one city. It's typically easier to find the fresh roots though; many supermarkets carry them. You will generally have a better chance of finding them in mainstream supermarkets rather than health food stores, since they're not a locally-grown food. Ethnic markets are GOLDEN for this ingredient.

For these tortillas/wrappers, we prefer the frozen version, but that's just because it takes a lot of time off the process of peeling. Fresh yuca roots are often "yucky" (see what I did there) in the middle (making them unusable), which you don't know until you peel them; the frozen ones are obviously good, pre-measured, and grated, too. woo!

If using fresh, peel the outer layer off using a sharp knife, then feed into a food processor to grate. You're going to want about 2 cups of grated yuca. If using frozen, thaw a bag (or do two at a time to make a lot, to freeze later) and empty into a towel or some cheesecloth. You need to wring out most of the water. You don't want it totally dry, but mostly dry.

In a covered glass dish, microwave for three minutes. For non-microwavers, I feel you cringing. We didn't use a microwave in our house at all for about 15 years, but there was one in the RV when we bought it, and it's the perfect application for this particular recipe. There is a way to do this without a microwave, but you can ONLY use fresh yuca, which you boil before pureéing, and we've found this to be too-wet of a dough in the end. The only way to know is to try it! :) If you're still with me, after the three minutes (be careful of the steam when taking the lid off!), your yuca will have some drier, cooked areas around the edges (which you can see in the first photo below), and that's how you know it's cooked enough. Due to varied water content, humidity, etc., sometimes you'll need an extra 30 seconds or so; you'll learn it by trial and error.

Next, you'll transfer the hot yuca into a food processor, add a small splash of olive or avocado oil (about a tablespoon per two cups of yuca) and a dash of salt (about half a teaspoon). Mix that up until you get a soft, perfectly pliable dough. You won't believe that essentially one ingredient - the yuca - is going to make such a perfect dough. It's seriously magic.

Next, grab a piece of parchment twice the size of your tortilla press, fold in half. Take a piece of dough about the size of a ping pong ball, sandwich it in the parchment, and press. Lift the press, turn the tortilla 90 degrees, and press again. Voilá!

Stack your tortillas individually on a plate, with plastic wrap or parchment in between layers. You can cook them now, or freeze for later. We usually stick the whole plate in the freezer and then once they're frozen we transfer the individual tortillas into a large plastic bag and return to the freezer.

To cook into tortillas, just heat in a hot pan (we use cast iron) with a little oil until they begin to brown on each side. To make into potstickers, wrap your AIP filling of choice and then pan-fry in a little oil.

We added a lot of photos here, but it's not really complicated or too time consuming at all. Thaw, squeeze, cook for three minutes, pulse for a couple minutes in the processor, press. 15-20 minutes tops, depending on how big of a batch you make. TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Let us know how it works for you!