Alcapurria Recipe

Alcapurrias are savory fried Puerto Rican meat fritters. Ingredients for fillings and dough used for alcapurrias can vary, but this food is most commonly made with green bananas and yautía for the dough and ground beef or pork for the filling. While the portability of alcapurrias makes them popular at beachside snack stands, alcapurrias are also excellent as entrees or appetizers at home. This Alcapurria Recipe is all you need for a lovely meal for your family and friends :)Dough Ingredients:

• 4 green bananas or 3 green plantains
• 4 pounds yautía root, also called cocoyam or taro
• 1 TBS salt
• 1 package of annatto seasoning, also called achiote

Filling Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 TBS sofrito
• chopped vegetables (optional)

Note: You can use other meats in place of part or all of the ground beef. For example, you could use ground pork, salt pork, ham or fish. You can also use the sofrito recipe you prefer.

Preparation:

1. Start by preparing your filling. First, cook your ground beef and sofrito together in a skillet. Once the ground beef is finished cooking, take the skillet off the heat and allow it to cool. If you are adding any chopped vegetables to your filling, cook those in the skillet before adding the ground beef.

2. It’s now time to make the dough. If you are using whole plantains or green bananas and yautía, peel both and grate them by hand or with a food processor. You can also use pre-frozen grated yautía to save time. Next, grind these ingredients with a food processor to create a fine dough. Finally, add your achiote seasoning and mix until combined. Chill the dough in the refrigerator.

3. Set a large piece of parchment paper or foil on the countertop and grease it lightly with oil. Use your hand or a ladle to scoop out about one-quarter of a cup of the dough onto the surface. With your hand or a spoon, make a basin in the middle of the pile of dough where the filling will go. Put about a tablespoon of the filling into the basin and fold the dough over from the sides to enclose the filling. If necessary, add some more dough over the top. Repeat this process to make more alcapurrias until you have used up the remainder of the dough and filling.

4. You are now ready to cook the alcapurrias. While deep frying is often preferred, you can also pan-fry alcapurrias. Pre-heat the oil and carefully put the alcapurrias into the oil. Fry for about seven minutes on each side, watching for the fritters to turn a rich golden brown color. Finally, remove the alcapurrias from the oil and drain them on a paper towel until they are cool enough to eat.

If you have more alcapurrias than you need at the moment, you can always freeze uncooked ones for later. This can be ideal if you want to have some ready for an upcoming party or other event. Just put them on parchment and slip them into a freezer bag in the meantime, then fry them as instructed when you are ready. You don’t even have to thaw the alcapurrias before frying them.

Nutrition Facts of Alcapurria

This recipe makes 15 servings of about 300 calories each. Each serving has 10 grams of protein, 38 grams of carbohydrates and 11 grams of fat. Per serving, this Alcapurria recipe include:

• Iron: 1.7mg
• Potassium: 979mg
• Calcium: 60mg
• Zinc: 2.2mg
• Vitamin B6: 0.55mg

Alcapurrias are versatile as well as delicious. After making them once, you’ll understand why alcapurrias have been a favorite in Puerto Rican cuisine for a long time. There is virtually no limit to the fillings you can put inside, so feel free to get creative and add your personal touch to your own batch.