Ingredients:
Meat filling
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 shallots (or 1 red onion), chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 tablespoons Gefen BBQ Sauce
Yuca Empanadas
- 3 pounds yuca (cassava)
- 1/2 a red pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 cup parsley, cleaned and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons Gefen Tapioca Starch, plus an additional 1/2 cup for assembly (you can make this year-round using flour)
- beaten egg, for brushing
Prepare the Meat Filling
Sauté your shallots until tender. Add in garlic and sauté together for approximately 30 seconds.
Add in your ground beef and mix with BBQ sauce until all cooked and brown. Set aside.
Prepare the Yuca
Peel and cut down the yuca. Boil in a large pot of water until tender; approximately 25 minutes. Let cool and remove hard center thread.
Mash with a potato masher and add in chopped pepper, garlic powder, parsley, salt and egg. Blend all together with two tablespoons of tapioca starch and set aside.
Assemble the Empanadas
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Have prepared a half cup of tapioca starch and your meat filling.
Place a bit of tapioca starch in your hands. Scoop approximately a quarter cup of the yuca mixture and flatten out into a two-and-a-half-inch circle.
Place one heaping tablespoon of cooked ground meat in the center. Bring one end to the other, closing the empanada into an oval shape. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
Brush each with egg and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.