Saturday, May 15, 2010

Frituras de Malanga: Malanga Fritters


  
First let me start by thanking Pris for mailing us a box of five very large malangas. Yay Pris! Thank you.


Malanga is a root vegetable popular in the tropics and South America. There are actually two different malangas: Malanga blanca considered the true malanga, which grows on dry land. The other is malanga amarillo which grows in wet bog-like areas. Malanga are about the size and shape of a regular white potato; the outside skin of the malanga is brown and somewhat hairy. It generally weighs 1/2 to 2 pounds, but can be heavier. The interior has an extremely crisp texture and can vary in color from cream, yellow or pink. 

For Pris: Malanga Recipe #1: Malanga Fritters

These are the proportions
for about 3 cups of grated malanga
add
1 teaspoon salt, more or less to taste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
2 tablespoons parsley, chopoped

Vegetable oil for frying
Lemon wedges

Peel malanga and place in cold water. The spots that arise are okay, just make sure you remove all the skin and rinse under cold water. Using a hand grater, shred coarse; there should be about 3 cups. My malanga was so big, I only used half of it. Add garlic, salt, egg and parsley. Blend together with a fork until eggs has coated the whole mixture. In a frying pan, bring your oil to medium high heat. Form malanga mixture into loosely packed balls in the palm of your hand, using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of mixture for each. Drop into the hot oil and brown well. Do not crowd fritters while cooking. If the fritters are browning too quickly lower the heat, as we want them to cook thoroughly. Keep in a warm oven as you fry all remaining. Serve with lemon wedges and parsley garnish. (I didn't have lemon, so I sprinkled with a little lime juice, some of you may want to sprinkle with hot sauce as well.)

Please note: One of our readers has left variations of his malanga fritters recipe that you can view here and a sweet dessert variation here Thanks Nathan.

12 comments:

  1. These look absolutely yummy. I'm so glad you could use them!

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  2. Oh good, I'm so glad you posted about malanga. I just posted today "yuca fries" on my blog and the blog I'm hosting every 3rd Sat on Our Krazy Kitchen.

    I have been trying to buy veggies that I'm not familiar with and what we have in our stores all the time. I discovered boniato (tropical sweet potato) and love it. I was going for name or malanga next.

    Thanks I am definitely going to make these!

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  3. Que rico! In my family we love "Malanga" fritters. My families version is a little different. We grate it but super finely it's more of a puree, and wehne we fry it it puffs.

    Here's my families recipe for "Frituritas de Malanga" if your interested :):

    http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/09/frituritas-de-malanga-malanga-fritters.html

    We also make a sweet version in my family using a anise seed infused malanga batter, that after fried is dunked in sweet cinnamon sugar syrup.

    http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/12/frituritas-de-malanga-en-dulce-malanga.html

    I've never tried them grated like the one's you made next time I'll make it like you :)

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  4. Those frituritas look awfully good, Ivonne! YUM!!!!

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  5. Thank you readers. I must admit that this was the first time I have made them grated. Normally I would put the malanga through a blender or food processer to get a puree. I did it that way the night before, but when I went to fry them they didn't keep their form and started falling apart. I think that the pureed version didn't work as well because this malanga was not as starchy as the longer ones that I was accustomed to. But, as I ways say, I adapt. The grated version held together wonderfully and tasted great.

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  6. I.M.

    The secret is when making the pureed version is to grate the puree use the finest part of the grater and then use some tablespoons of flour "pa'que cuaje"

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  7. Lyndsey, I was unaware that you had a blog. When I clicked on your photo, nothing showed up. My daughter said, no click on the flower. I'm going to check it out now.

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  8. I made Cuban cuisine for the first time this last weekend and it featured these Malanga Fritters with an L.A. Garlic sauce and it was the talk of the week! I will be cooking Cuban more often and touching into my roots. I LOVE it!

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  9. I'm making this version of frituras de malanga today :D (2:09 AM does that make me a night owl or early bird lol.)

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  10. where in the midwest do you find malangas?

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  11. As you can see this post is from 2010. In the past I have found malanga at Meijer.

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