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En Español Recipe ↆ Video ↆ
Casabe is the oldest dish in our culinary heritage and the basis of the Taino diet. Learn how easy it is to make this ancient food at home using modern methods and techniques for casabe close to the one made with ancient cooking methods from our indigenous ancestors.
By Clara Gonzalez - Last reviewed . Published Jun 16, 2013
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Why we ❤️ it
Casabe — a crispy flatbread made from cassava (yuca) flour – was at the center of the Taíno diet. Casabe is one of the oldest dishes in our heritage.
Over 500 years later, casabe is still a popular food in Dominican households, widely available throughout the country over, and reinvented by small businesses that export it to other countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.
History
Casabe was one of the staples of the Taino diet. [1] The Taino brought Yuca (cassava root) and the knowledge of how to make this flatbread from the mainland. It also spread to where other Arawak groups settled, in modern-day Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela.
"So important was this food to these indigenous people, that the main god in their pantheon was called Yocahu Vagua Maorocoti, which is roughly translated as 'Our Great Lord of Yuca'". [2]
When the Spanish first arrived on the island, they soon found that casabe --which they called "the bread of the Indies" [1]-- had advantages over their traditional European bread, in that it has a long shelf life and does not go stale or moldy. For this reason, it is said that the conquest of the Americas was fueled by casabe, taken by the conquistadores from Hispaniola as they continued their push into Mexico and other parts of the continent [3].
How it's made
To make casabe, the yuca has to be peeled, washed, ground up, compressed, sieved, and then finally shaped into large circular molds and baked on a stone hotplate called burén (a Taino word) [2].
Making commercial quantities is not an easy task using the traditional method, which is more appropriate for producing the amount needed to feed a household.
Making cassava bread.
Keeping the tradition alive
Up till a few decades ago, casabe production was a dying tradition in the Dominican Republic. The ultimate cottage industry, it was restricted to several very small producers, mainly in the northwest of the country, and distribution and sales beyond the local area were close to nonexistent.
This Amerindian tradition was revitalized by enterprising producers likeNicolas Almonte of Casabe Guaraganó, who, in the 1970s, adapted this labor-intensive craft to a larger scale process where much of the production is done by machinery. This allows for increased volumes of production. Now other producers have followed suit, and casabe is being produced on a much larger scale and being distributed tocolmadosand supermarkets around the country, as well as to overseas markets, especially the United States.
An additional benefit of the increased production is that it employs a significant amount of people – especially women – in rural areas and acts as an incentive to keep people from migrating to the cities or overseas. Monción has a population of 14,000 and it is estimated that 4,000 or so owe their living directly or indirectly to this industry. Although the Monción area is home to many small and medium-scale producers, they are working together as a casabe producers association in order to promote the product.
The challenge for these producers is to increase the popularity of this grated cassava bread, which is still seen as a “humble” food. The producers also want to develop the image of casabe and turn it into a gourmet product for the domestic and international market. Many producers are making several varieties, including garlic-flavored casabe, or as a dessert – a sweet casabe filled with guava or pineapple jam, and different sized ones such as ‘bite-size’ to serve with dips. They also stress its versatility and health benefits as selling points.
Benefits
This ancient yuca bread is fat-free and rich in fiber, and although not formally certified, yuca is always grown organically. Despite being preservative-free, this yuca bread has a shelf life of up to eight months, as the Spaniards were so grateful to find[4].
It is also a great gluten-free alternative for celiacs.
Casabe en el desayuno.
How to eat it
Casabe is commonly found served with mambá, the Dominican savory peanut butter, or with habichuelas con dulce, a uniquely Dominican dessert.
As with conventional bread, it can also be eaten at different times of the day in a variety ofways. Most commonly for breakfast, served with coffee, it is also used to accompany soups and stews.
Other casabe foods include soaking it in water and serving it with fried eggs or avocado. It can also be baked and served with a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. For a light supper, accompany it with a mug of Dominican hot chocolate drink. It can also be used as a buffet food with dips, in the same way as tortilla chips, crackers, or pitta bread.
Homemade casabe.
Top tips
- Use the smallest pan you have. I used a one-egg pan to make 12 single-serving cassava bread. If yours is bigger, the serving size may vary.
- Aim for thin casabe - thinner casabe is crispier.
- Place in a tight container and store in a dry place - its natural dryness will help it keep for weeks, if not months.
About this recipe
Why write a recipe for it? After all, Dominicans don't make casabe at home. So what possessed us to even try this?
Years ago, a reader (Hi Catherine!) wrote to us about her teaching some friends in Canada how to make casabe. She ended one of the emails in our exchange with, "Taino women would have been proud of me." They sure would, Catherine.
This exchange -- and Catherine's ideas-- inspired us to create our own recipe that could be made at home with modern kitchen implements but inspired by the ancestral way it was made by Taino Indians.
So go ahead, give it a try. And to make things a bit more interesting, we have added two options for flavored casabe that we hope you like.
Buen provecho!
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Recipe
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Casabe [Recipe + Video] Cassava Bread
By: Clara Gonzalez
Learn how to make casabe (yuca or cassava bread with this easy recipe. It's very rich in fiber, no cholesterol, no sodium, no fat, and only a moderate carbohydrate content. Try this ancient wonder food
4.89 from 9 votes
Save for Later Print Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Dominican, Latino
Servings 4 servings
Calories 181 kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound yuca , (cassava), peeled and washed
Parmesan casabe
- ⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan
Garlic casabe
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 garlic cloves, (crushed )
- ¼ cup olive oil
Instructions
1. Grate yuca
-
Grate the cassava with the least coarse side of the box grater.
2. Squeeze out liquid
-
Using a clean cotton cloth, squeeze the cassava until you extract as much liquid as possible.
3. Dry
-
Spread on a baking tray and leave in the fridge for 4 hours (the refrigerator acts as a dehumidifier), stirring and breaking clumps at least every hour.
By then it should be slightly damp, and the texture will be similar to grated parmesan.
4. Cook casabe
-
Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. Spread some cassava on it, making sure to break down any clumps before you do.
Cook for 1 minute, turn and cook for another minute, or until both sides are light golden brown, and the casabe is no longer flexible.
5. Rest
-
Once you have made all the cassava bread, place on a wire tray to cool down. It should not be flexible; if it is, it means that not all the water has evaporated. If that is the case, cook a bit longer.
6. To make parmesan casabe
-
Mix half the grated parmesan with the grated cassava before step 3. Proceed with the instructions above. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and toast in the oven.
7. To make garlic casabe
-
Mix garlic and salt with the grated cassava before step 3. Proceed with the instructions above. Sprinkle with the olive oil and toast in the oven.
Cook's Notes
Use the smallest pan you have. I used a one-egg pan to make 12 single serving cassava bread. If yours is bigger, serving size may vary
Aim for thin casabe - thinner casabe is crispier.
Place in tight container and store in a dry place - it should keep for weeks, if not months.
Nutrition facts are for plain casabe.
Nutrition
Calories: 181kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 1gSodium: 15mgPotassium: 307mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 15IUVitamin C: 23.3mgCalcium: 18mgIron: 0.3mg
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
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More recipes with yuca
Yuca, a you can see above, is one of our most beloved ingredients, and we can make so many tasty things with it. Learn how to peel yuca, and check out all our favorite yuca recipes, among them yuca fries, chulitos, arepitas de yuca, boiled yuca al mojo de ajo, yuca hervida encebollada, mofongo de yuca, empanadas de yuca, pastelón de yuca, yuca balls, and the lesser-known panecicos.
And if you are asking yourself whether you can make desserts with yuca, the answer is yes, so enjoy these traditional buñuelos de yuca, or one of my favorite creations, pudín de yuca.
FAQs
What is the meaning of casabe?
Casabe is a dry flatbread made with grated yuca root (cassava root) which is squeezed, and then cooked over a griddle-like hot plate forming round disks as large as 2 feet in diameter. It was part of the diet of many of the indigenous people that inhabited the Caribbean island and what's now mainland Venezuela.
Where does casabe come from?
Yuca and casabe originated in Nothern South America with the Arawak people, an indigenous tradition that spread to most of the indigenous communities in the Caribbean.
What is casabe dominicano in English?
Casabe in English is cassava bread. Cassava is the proper translation for yuca in English. The yucca plant is a different ornamental plant.
References
- Frank Moya Pons, The Dominican Republic: A National History. Sto. Dgo: First Markus Wiener Publishers, 2006. Page 19.
- Juan B. Nina, El Origen de la Cocina Dominicana. Sto. Dgo: MedyaByte, 2002. Page 21.
- The Journal of Gastronomy. California. American Institute of Wine and Food, 1987. Page 47.
- Hugo Tolentino Dipp, Itinerario Histórico de la Gastronomía dominicana. Sto. Dgo. Amigo del Hogar, 2014. Page 27.
"Casabe lady" photo by Pedrito Guzmán. Used with permission.
Part of the introduction to this recipe was published as a separate article in 2003 and expanded here.
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