Cassava Flour Tortilla

Cassava Flour Tortilla

(By KayDoc)

Cassava tuber is a root vegetable that grows in warm tropical climates. It has the ability to thrive on marginal and low fertility lands.

For persons who are familiar with the making of banana flour, note that making cassava flour follows the same procedure (refer back to the blog on banana drying).

STEP ONE: Making the flour

1. Cassava tuber is washed and peeled. You can cut the tuber into 2 inch blocks to maintain some control as you work with it.

From my back yard

2. The tuber is sliced thinly lengthwise and placed on a sheet of zinc to dry.

3. Like in banana drying, you need to ensure that the sun is hot when you prepare this. Do not allow dew water to fall on it in the evening. Repeat the drying process for a few days (until the slices are dry).

4. You can pound the dried cassava using mortar and pestle or simply put into a food processer or blender to produce the flour. 

STEP TWO: Making the tortilla dough

(the preparation is similar to the making of corn tortilla)

Ingredients (can yield up to 12 tortillas)

2 cups cassava flour

2tbsp baking powder (or 1 egg)

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick butter or 4 oz oil of choice

1/2 cup water

Materials

tortilla masher

clear plastic

Instructions

1.Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl

2. Make dough into 1/2 inch balls

3. Put a ball at a time between two pieces of clear plastic on the tortilla masher

4. Press down the masher

5. Bake tortilla for one minute

Baking the tortilla

The tortilla can be used like flour tortilla and eaten with eggs, beans, stew meat, fish, peanut butter, jam, syrup, etc. 

You can also spice up the meal by being creative. 

Below, I hashed fish and seasoned it with salt and herbs and added tomato, sweet pepper, onion, and garlic. I topped it with sour cream (you can use ranch dressing, ketchup, or a vinaigrette). 

 See my production below

(waiting for Gwen to give it a name)

 I grated carrot and cabbage on top of it.

*****

Everyone in Dangriga can plant sweet cassava sticks in their yard. You do NOT need to hassle yourself taking care of it once it is in the ground.

There are many local small farmers in this town. They are willing to share their expertise (and resources) with those of us who are serious. They have also expressed the desire to see more people go back to eating local and healthy. 

Cassava takes between 6 to 12 months to mature (this depend on the variety planted).

Let's all give this a try. 

More to come on products from Cassava.