Dominican Alcapurriás were one of my favorite holiday treats growing up! They were not an everyday thing. They were always too much work for that! You see, the first step is to grate the yucca. If you have ever done this, you know that is no easy feat! Peeling it is hard enough. Luckily, I made a video to help you with the peeling part!
And just when you think the hard part is over, the box grater comes out! As kids, that was our job because mom was doing everything else. You don’t even want to know how many pieces of our knuckle skin went in those Dominican Alcapurrias every year! Luckily my husband bought us a fancy, new food processor. I can grate a ton of yucca in minutes!
Now it is so much easier! You can actually buy it already grated in the freezer section of your local supermarket or do what I do and use the Breville food processor to do the grating for you!
You want to start with well seasoned meat. This will be good for not only the filling, but the sauce is used in the dough as well. Learn how my make my Dominican Sazón here.
One of the most important parts is to squeeze all the water out of the grated yucca. No one wants soggy alcapurriás.
Try to roll your Alcapurriás nice and tight so you don’t get the filling leaking out.
Dominican Style Alcapurriás
Equipment
- Food Processor Breville made this easy
- Chef knife Best to peel the yucca
- Meat Cleaver Best to cut the yucca into manageable sections
Ingredients
- 4 medium Yucca
- 1 small Pack of ground beef
- 1 small Red onion
- 1 small Bell pepper
- 1 tsp Sazón
- 1 Lime, juiced
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook your seasoned beef on a hot skillet
- Dice your vegetables
- Once the meat is turning brown, add your vegetables, lime juice and paste
- Sautee until cooked
- Drain and reserve the sauce
- While the meat is cooking,
- Peel and finely grate your yucca
- Place the grated mixture over a cheesecloth and squeeze out the liquid
- Fluff out your yucca mixture
- Sprinkle the cornstarch to bind the mixture
- Add in your reserved liquid from the meat and work it all together with your hands
- Take a small ball and flatten it in your hands
- Make a space in the center for the meat
- Add your meat and roll the dough between your hands
- Make sure you cover all the meat well so it doesn’t leak out while frying
- Once you have them all rolled out, deep fry them until golden brown
Notes
Do you have these only at holidays? Dimé!
