The Teaspoon: Pan de Bono

by Diana

Pan de bono is to me the Colombian snack per excellence. I used to crave them after a long day at uni when living in Caracas as there is a large Colombian community in the city, at least back then when economy in the neighbour country were not as fruitful as it is today. I attempted making them once with a Galician heritage friend of mine of the time who enjoyed a cooking challenge as much as I did. We were both surprised with the outcome and the satisfaction was so elevated (and over fulfilling) that we didn’t need to eat them ever again! Here I am 15 years later attempting them once more with the naive believe that my settled blogger experience would compensate London’s inaccessibility of the right tropical ingredients. The outcome this time (hence the title of this post) is possibly more similar to a savoury British scone than an actual pan de Bono though. Perhaps I have immersed in the culture so much that I unconsciously and intuitively ended up with a British produce - not necessarily a bad thing but nevertheless something I unfortunately can't use as evidence to support my ‘life in the UK’ test due to be taken later this year.

I hope you enjoy this European version of Pan de Bono which is still a delicious recipe, just not quite the right one! and do keep an eye on the blog as I will make version #2 to make up for it.

Ingredients

Yield:

8 portions

110 g cassava starch or yuca flour - I used Encona Gari which is made from cassava root. 30 g pre cooked cornmeal

200 g Feta cheese
1 egg, bitten

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F.
In a bowl place the yuca flour, cheese and the pricked cornmeal.Add the egg and mix using a wooden spoon or a food processor. You will need to use your hands to finish up the dough.

Shape the mixture into balls of equal size and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for approximately15-20 minutes or until golden on top. Serve warm and eat on the same day otherwise they'll go crumbly. Enjoy!