Kitchen Secrets with Our Cuban Chef – Yuca con Mojo
Yuca con mojo is the side dish that shows up at every Cuban table, from a Tuesday dinner to a Nochebuena spread. Cassava root is boiled until it turns soft and slightly translucent, then drowned in hot garlic oil sharpened with sour orange. It is simple food, and that is exactly why it has to be done right.
The root itself came to Cuba long before the Spanish did. Taino communities across the island were growing and cooking cassava for centuries, and the technique survived every wave of settlement that followed. What the Spanish added was the mojo: garlic, olive oil and bitter orange, a sauce that turned a plain starch into something you keep going back to.
Here is how our kitchen makes it in Tampa, and how you can make it at home.
Where yuca con mojo comes from
Cassava was a staple crop across the Caribbean well before 1492. Taino cooks processed the bitter varieties into flour and baked it into casabe, a flatbread that kept for months in a tropical climate. The sweet varieties, the ones we boil today, needed nothing more than water and fire.
Mojo arrived with Spanish settlers from the Canary Islands, who brought a habit of pounding garlic with oil and citrus. Cuba had no bitter Seville oranges at first, but the trees took to the island quickly, and naranja agria became the backbone of Cuban cooking: in mojo, in marinades for roast pork, in the pot with black beans.
The combination stuck. A century later, Cuban families in Tampa were making the same dish in Ybor City kitchens, and it never left the menu.
Ingredients
- 3 lb fresh or frozen yuca (cassava), peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
- 1 tbsp salt, for the cooking water
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1 whole head of garlic, about 12 cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 large white onion, sliced into thin rings
- 3/4 cup sour orange juice (naranja agria), or 1/2 cup orange juice mixed with 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
How to make Cuban Yuca con Mojo
- Put the yuca in a large pot, cover with cold water and add the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil and cook 20 to 30 minutes, until a fork slides in with no resistance. Frozen yuca usually needs about 20 minutes.
- Drain the yuca and pull out the woody fibrous cord running through the centre of each piece. Keep the pieces warm in the covered pot.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the sliced garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until it turns pale gold. Do not let it brown or the mojo will taste bitter.
- Add the onion rings and cook 3 more minutes, just until they soften.
- Take the skillet off the heat and carefully pour in the sour orange juice. It will hiss. Stir in the cumin and oregano, then season with salt and pepper.
- Return to low heat for 2 minutes so the flavours come together, then pour the hot mojo over the yuca and serve straight away.
Chef’s notes
- Sour orange is what makes it taste Cuban. If your market does not carry it, two parts orange juice to one part lime juice is the closest substitute.
- The centre cord is tough and inedible. Removing it while the yuca is hot takes seconds.
- Mojo keeps for a week in the fridge and is just as good on roast pork, tostones or grilled chicken.
What to serve it with
Yuca con mojo belongs next to anything roasted or grilled. Lechon asado is the classic pairing, but it works just as well with a piece of pork shoulder, grilled chicken or a steak.
Round the plate out with white rice and black beans and you have a full Cuban dinner. If you are feeding a crowd, double the mojo. It always disappears first.
Prefer to let us cook?
We make cuban yuca con mojo fresh every day at our kitchen on 5555 S 78th St in Tampa. You can order Fried Yuca for pickup, or browse the full Cuban menu and skip the line.
