Mbejú Paraguayo

Ingredients

• 300 g cassava starch (almidón de mandioca or tapioca starch)
• 100 g fine cornmeal
• 220 g queso Paraguay or firm salty fresh cheese
• 100 g butter, softened
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 160 ml milk
• 40 g butter, for the pan

Before you cook

• Grate or crumble the cheese finely
• Soften the 100 g of butter to a spreadable cream
• Whisk the cassava starch, cornmeal and salt together in a wide bowl

Steps

1. Rub the softened butter into the starch and cornmeal with your fingertips until no lumps remain.
2. Add the grated cheese and rub it through until the mixture looks like coarse damp sand.
3. Pour in the milk a little at a time, working it in with your hands after each addition.
4. Stop adding milk when a handful squeezed in your fist holds together but crumbles when poked; it should never become a smooth dough.
5. Melt 10 g of butter in a 20 cm non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
6. Scatter a quarter of the crumb into the pan in an even layer about 1 cm deep.
7. Press the surface gently with a spatula, tidying the edges into a round.
8. Cook for 4 minutes, until the underside is golden and the cake holds together in one piece.
9. Flip it with a plate or a wide spatula and cook the second side for 3 minutes.
10. Slide the mbejú onto a plate and cook the remaining three the same way.
11. Eat them hot, cut into wedges, with cocido or coffee.