← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 250 g tapioca starch (polvilho doce)
• 125 ml whole milk
• 60 ml Water
• 60 ml vegetable oil, plus a little for your hands
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 80 g Parmesan (or a vegetarian hard cheese), finely grated
• 80 g queso fresco or mozzarella, crumbled or grated

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) / 400°F and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Put the tapioca starch in a large bowl. Bring the milk, water, oil and salt just to the boil in a small pan, then pour it over the starch and stir with a wooden spoon. It will look lumpy and sticky; that’s right.
3. Leave the mixture to cool for 10 min, until warm rather than hot, so the eggs don’t scramble.
4. Add the eggs a little at a time, mixing hard (hands or a mixer work best), until you have a smooth, very sticky dough. Mix in both cheeses.
5. With oiled hands, roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and space them 4 cm apart on the tray.
6. Bake for 20–25 min, until puffed, crisp and lightly golden. Eat warm, while the insides are still soft and stretchy.

Tips

• Freeze the unbaked balls on a tray, then bag them; bake from frozen, adding about 5 minutes.
• Tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same thing. Don’t swap in wheat flour or cornflour; they won’t puff.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Brazilian Kitchen Abroad Camila Made