Cassava Balls Vegan Gluten Free Recipes

CASSAVA BALLS (VEGAN, GLUTEN FREE)

Steps:

• Bring a large saucepan with the cassava to the boil.
• Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the cassava is tender and soft to prick with a fork (you will know when it is ready because the vegetable will change from opaque to translucent).
• Drain off all the water and discard the woody part that is in the centre (both fresh and frozen will have this).
• While the cassava is still hot, add the dairy free butter, paprika, thyme, black pepper, parsley, onion/garlic powder and pink salt.
• Use an immersion stick blender to break down the cassava pieces into a thick-ish mash. If you are struggling to do this then add a splash of water, a little at a time not too much or it will be too sticky.
• Once the mash is done, work it into a dough ball, if it feels too sticky then add some flour. Add the flour in increments (very very small amounts) while working the mash into pliable dough (it shouldn't be too sticky nor too firm, just in between).
• Grab a small piece of the dough in the palm of your hand and fill the centre with cheese (you won't need more than 3 pieces per ball)
• Cover the side with the exposed cheese pieces with the dough and roll it into a round ball using both hands and repeat this step.
• On medium heat, preheat a small frying pan with oil (I used no more than ¼ cup of oil).
• Place a few of the cheese balls in the pan and fry until golden (move the pan side to side/back and forth and use a spoon to baste the oil onto the cheese balls to cook them through evenly without using excess oil).
• Follow the instructions above up until steps 8
• Preheat the air fryer (very important)
• Once the cheese balls have been formed, place some oil in a small bowl.
• Dip and coat each ball in oil.
• Place them in the fryer basket (make sure the basket is coated in oil too).
• Set the fryer to 180c/356f for 5-6 minutes, shake and rotate the fryer and check them often (very important).
• As soon as the cheese balls are golden remove them from the fryer, DO NOT over cook them or they will burst, flatten and the cheese will ooze out.