Pan de Yuca (the best warm cheesy buns): A Taste of Colombia

Pan de Yuca are the most addictive little cheese buns, hailing from South America. They are crusty on the outside and chewy and stretchy on the inside. They only take minutes to whip up and are amazing when eaten warm out of the oven. Best of all - they're naturally gluten free! (Skip to recipe.)

This month for our Eat the World recipe challenge we are headed off to Colombia, a country right at the central tip of northern South America. And what a country it is! With the second highest rate of biodiversity in the world (next to Brazil), it is home to a vast array of flora and fauna and a striking variety of physical landscapes. This biodiversity in turn makes for a very diverse cuisine, with one of the widest selections of ingredients available for cooking, varying from region to region. This country (the third largest Spanish-speaking country in the world by population, with over 50 million people), includes Amazon rainforest, desert areas, highlands, grasslands, soaring mountain ranges, and coastal areas that border both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.

The cuisine sees influences from Indigenous Colombians, Africans, and Spanish (with over 300 years under Spanish rule). The food is not particularly spicy, but is layered with complex flavours from diverse preparation methods such as wood grilling, smoking, and fermenting. Grains and cereals (like rice and corn) are a staple, as well as tubers (like potatoes and cassava root) and beans. Meats, seafoods, and fresh fruits all play a large part in Colombian cuisine. And cheese - lots of cheese in everything, from desserts, to main courses, to chunks of it in their hot chocolate.

Lots of cheese in these wonderful cheesy little buns. Pan de Yuca - bread made of yuca - which is another name for the cassava root. The starch of the root is extracted and dried to a powder known as tapioca flour or tapioca starch (not to be confused with cassava flour which is the whole root dried and ground to a flour).

These addictive little buns with the crisp outsides and fluffy, stretchy insides are a popular street food in the southern part of Colombia and in Ecuador. Almost every Latin country has some variation of these cheesy types of buns which go by many different names and slight variations of ingredients. The southern Colombian version are made mainly from tapioca starch, cheese, eggs, and sometimes butter or cream. (The Pan de Bono popular in the rest of Colombia also contain maize/corn flour, as far as I can tell.) The combination of those few simple ingredients will take you to a whole new level of cheese-bun-gorging! I have to stop myself from eating 4 or 5 of them as soon as they come warm out of the oven.

I have been making these buns for years now for our family, and was so thrilled I could share this simple recipe with you as we stop by to virtually visit Colombia.

Pan de Yuca are typically served in Colombia as a coffee time snack with hot chocolate, but they also make a fantastic appetizer; prepare the balls ahead and pop them in the oven just before the guests come so you can pull them out of the oven and serve them immediately to rave reviews. Or serve them with a salad or soup as a simple, light lunch - they are a tasty substitute for biscuits.

Pan de Yuca also make fantastic little slider buns - we've had them the last couple nights with pulled pork and taco toppings - so delicious! I can't wait to try them with mini hamburger patties to make cheeseburger sliders this summer.

Once you know how easy it is to whip up a batch of Pan de Yuca, you'll be making them often. And because they're naturally gluten free, you can serve them safely to a diverse crowd. Who doesn't like a stretchy, fluffy little cheese bun?

* * * * *

Kitchen Frau Notes: The cheese typically used in Colombia for Pan de Yuca is a type of fresh cheese called queso fresco or quesillo. Grated Oaxaca cheese or other fresh white cheese can also be used. Mozarella is the closest cheese we have to those, and combining it with cheddar gives a great flavour.

*If you use one of these moister traditional fresh cheeses, you'd be best to omit the cream or milk and only add it if you need it, one tablespoon at a time, as those cheeses add a lot more moisture on their own.

You can use the leftover egg whites to make an egg white omelet or add to scrambled eggs, or keep a container in the freezer with frozen egg whites, and add to them whenever you have a couple. Put a piece of masking tape on the container and keep updating how many egg whites you have in there - then when you have enough you can defrost them and use them for baking, like in this angel food cake or this pavlova.

Pan de Yuca (Colombian Cheese Buns)

• 2 cups (200gms) shredded full-fat mozarella cheese (or half mozzarella and half white cheddar)
• 1 cup (135gms) tapioca starch/flour (or arrowroot starch)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg yolks
• ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream or 3 tablespoons milk or water (* omit if using a moister fresh cheese, see Notes, above)
• butter, for greasing the pan

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a large cookie sheet well with butter. Don't use parchment paper, as the surface is slick and doesn't give the yuca buns any grip, and they slide out of place as the cheese melts, causing little tails to form on the sides.

Put all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and whiz until the mixture comes together in a ball. Be patient - it can take 45 to 60 seconds.

Alternately, you can mix the dough by hand, but it may take an extra drizzle of cream to get it to come together into a ball.

Scrape the dough out onto cutting board and shape it into a log. Cut the log in half, then cut each side into 5 pieces, to make 10 even-sized pieces in total.

Roll each slice of dough into a ball and place onto the greased cookie sheet, 2 inches (5 cm) apart (they have a tendency to lean into each other and join up if they're not far enough apart).

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are a pale gold colour.

The pan de yuca are best served warm, right out of the oven. The cheese will harden as they cool, making a more breadlike texture, but the buns can be reheated in the oven to melt the cheese again and make the insides stretchy or they can be popped into the microwave for a few seconds to reheat them.

Makes 10 Pan de Yuca cheese buns.

Buen Provecho!

 

Check out all the wonderful Colombian dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!

Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Bollos de Mazorca (Steamed Fresh Corn Rolls)
Sneha’s Recipe: Colombian Arroz Atollado
Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Cañón de Cerdo (Colombia-Style Pork Loin Roast)
Pandemonium Noshery: Bandeja Paisa - Colombian Platter
Making Miracles: Arepas Con Carne Asada
Dinner By Dennis: Pan De Bono (Colombian Cassava and Masa Cheese Bread)
Sugarlovespices: Aguacate Relleno (Stuffed Avocado with Smoked Salmon and Egg)
Kitchen Frau: Pan de Yuca (Warm Cheesy Buns)
A Day in the LIfe on the Farm: Arroz Atollado

 

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Check out my past ‘Eat the World’ Recipe Challenge posts:

(in alphabetical order)

• Argentina: Red Chimichurri Sauce
• Bulgaria: Patatnik (Savoury Potato and Cheese Pie)
• Cambodia: Noum Kong (Cambodian Rice Flour Doughnuts)
• Egypt: Fava Beans and Feta
• England: Gluten Free Fish and Chips and Mushy Peas
• Ethiopia: Four Ethiopian Recipes for a Fantastic Feast
• Fiji: Spiced Sweet Potato and Banana Salad
• Finland: Lohikeitto (Creamy Salmon, Potato, and Dill Soup)
• France: Axoa d’Espelette (A Simple Stew from the Basque Country)
• Georgia: Charkhlis Chogi (Beets with Sour Cherry Sauce)
• India: Kerala Upma (Fluffy, Kerala Style Breakfast Upma Recipe)
• Iraq: Tepsi Baytinijan (Eggplant & Meatball Casserole)
• Ireland: Dublin Coddle (A tasty Sausage and Potato Stew)
• Israel: Cucumber, Feta, and Watermelon Salad
• Kenya: Maharagwe with Ugali (Red Beans with Cornmeal Slice)
• Mexico: Cochinita Pibil Tacos (Pit Barbecued Pig to Make in Your Oven)
• New Zealand: Classic Pavlova
• Poland: Polish Honey Cake
• Portugal: Tuna and Sardine Pâtés
• Puerto Rico: Piña Colada Cocktail
• Senegal: Mafé (Beef and Peanut Stew)
• Sweden: Swedish Meatballs with Cream Gravy
• Switzerland (Christmas): Basler Leckerli Cookies
• Thailand: Shrimp Laksa (Khung)
• Trinidad & Tobago: Peanut Butter Prunes
• Ukraine: Buckwheat Kasha with Beef