I love to experiment with foods. I especially like making my own Panamanian cuisine. The only problem is that Panamanian foods are generally very fattening. We love our fritura in Panamá. In fact you can check out the piece I did on fritura right here.

A few months ago my wife went to fiesta and bought a huge bag of frozen yuca. I was pretty excited as it was already peeled and ready to go. I got a big pot and added salt and water. I boiled them till they were all tender. I laid them out to cool. Then I simply cut them up, placed them in Ziploc bags, and then froze them.

This morning I woke up with a taste for a Panamanian treat. At the same time I wanted it to be relatively light. I remembered that I froze the yuca a few months back. I was just hoping that after being in the freezer for so long my wife would not go on her dumpling spree and throw it out.

Lo and behold it was still there and it smelled good. How do you make ‘yuca frita’ fried yuca that is healthy? You don’t fry them. You bake them.

I placed the Ziploc bag of yuca in the microwave to thaw it out. I then sprayed Pam on a foiled tray and then placed the yuca strips on the tray. I then season salted them very well. After baking them at 400 F for about 15 minutes, they were crisp and ready.

I must admit that the fried yuca was much more tasty than the baked yuca. That said, I think it likely save about 200 calories that I won’t have to burn off on my next exercise session. If you have a yuca dish that you like, drop me a line and tell me about it.

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