Yucca Black Bean Fritters / Crunch Patties

the80srule's Note:

I had a plain yucca dish (it had onions that I picked off, but was just yucca and butter; or it might've been corn oil) at a restaurant and took the leftovers home...they got a new life as Latin-inspired fritters with a can of black beans. I threw this together at the last minute to use up the leftovers before they went bad. Next time I make this (with fresh yucca too) I want to add some chopped garlic, I did this a second time with All-Purpose Mexican Seasoning because the first batch was pretty bland. Makes about 15-20 yo-yo sized fritters.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 15

Yield: 15.0 fritters

• 1 (15 ½ ounce) can black beans , drained and rinsed
• ½ lb yucca root
• ½ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons butter (you can also sub oil but butter has better consistency for this)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons all-purpose Mexican seasoning (see description for link to recipe, or use your own)
• ¼ cup canola oil , for frying (this is an estimate)

Directions:

1. Peel and wash the yucca. Cut into pieces.
2. Boil in salted water for about 15-20 minutes or until tender. (shorter time if you use a pressure cooker; which is just a dream in my current ghetto kitchen that has no $%*#@ space.).
3. Plop the tender yucca pieces into the food processor. Add the flour as well. Rinse and drain the black beans and put them in too.
4. Continuously pulse until the ingredients have pureed together-- but not entirely pureed, about halfway. There needs to be some whole beans and yucca chunks in there or else there's nothing to chew on.
5. Add the spices, and butter or oil and pulse again until melded.
6. If your food processor is a pain in the @$$ like mine, chances are some large yucca chunks and whole black beans are in there too. This is fine, I actually found this really added to the texture and flavor.
7. With your hands, form patties about the size of yo-yos. There should be about 15-20 of them.
8. Let the patties sit for a while (about 10 minutes. In my case, I had to run to class so I put them in a container in the fridge for 2 hours and fried them up when I returned.).
9. Pour canola oil in a frying pan and make sure the oil doesn't get too hot.
10. Fry the patties in the oil, about 2-3 minutes on each side.
11. Blot on paper towels and serve with salsa, sour cream, and/or guacamole or your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy.