Today officially marked the beginning of the design development phase of our project in El Cocal. The most eventful part of the day for me was the cooking lesson with Doña Eneyda, a sweet old lady who has prepared our lunches on days when we’re in the community. Today, she showed a group of us how to make boñuelos.

Boñuelos or tortas de yuca are fritters made from the yucca plant. Yucca is a root plant that is commonly found in areas of the Americas and the Caribbean. It has a rough brown skin and a firm white interior.

To prepare the dish, first we took off the skins of the tubers. To do this we used knives to create incisions that we then used to pry off the backs.

The next step in the process was using a grater to turn the tubers to shave the tubers down.

After this, we combined the shredded yucca with some homemade queso and eggs. All three ingredients were then hand mixed to create a paste-like mixture.

Outside, with the help of Eneyda’s son, Moises we spooned the yucca mixture into hot oil. When the fritters turned a golden brown, we took them out and placed them in a bowl with a paper towel to collect any excess oil.

We had the fritters with a meal of grilled chicken, a simple salad made with lettuce, tomatoes and ground pepper as well as the lunch staples, rice and beans.