Recipe

Yam fritters with syrup: a sweet from old Cuban cuisine

Name: Yam fritters with syrup: a sweet from old Cuban cuisine
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 120 min
Ingredients: 500 g white yam, weighed raw and already peeled; Water to boil the yam; 2 egg yolks; 60 g wheat flour; 20 g reserved wheat flour; 15 g sugar; 1 pinch of salt; ¼ to ½ teaspoon food-grade orange blossom water; Up to 2 tablespoons milk, only if the dough is dry; 750 ml neutral vegetable oil for frying; 200 g sugar; 200 ml water; 1 small cinnamon stick

Fried yam balls with a hint of orange blossom water and light cinnamon syrup, adapted from a 1864 Cuban cookbook.

CiberCubaNovember 7, 2026

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Preparation35 min
Cooking45 min
Total time2 h
Servings6 servings (about 24 small balls)
DifficultyMedium

Yam fritters appear in the New Manual of the Cuban and Spanish Cook by J. P. Legran, in its 1864 edition. There, the recipe refers to that of potato fritters and speaks of cooked and mashed yam, milk, orange blossom water, and yolks, all fried into balls. It is a simple sweet that shows how in the island's kitchens root vegetables were also used for confectionery.

This entry is our domestic adaptation, not a transcription of the cookbook: the quantities are modern, we add a small amount of wheat flour so the dough can be handled and fried safely, and we choose to serve them with a light cinnamon syrup. The result is small balls, golden on the outside and with a tender, pale crumb inside, very different from the figure-eight shaped yuca and malanga fritters.

Method

The dough

Wear gloves, peel the yam, cut it into pieces about 4 cm long and wash them under a stream of cold water.
Put the pieces in a pot, cover with cold water and boil over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until a fork enters without any resistance and the yam is completely tender.
Drain the yam very well, return it to the pot off the heat and leave it uncovered for about 5 minutes to release steam and lose moisture.
Mash with a masher or a fork until you obtain a smooth puree without lumps. Let it cool for about 10 minutes: it must be lukewarm, not hot, before adding the yolks.
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Add to the puree the 2 yolks, the 15 g sugar, the pinch of salt and ¼ teaspoon of orange blossom water. Mix well, check the aroma by smelling the mixture and increase up to ½ teaspoon only if it is barely noticeable.
Incorporate the 60 g flour and mix until you have a firm but tender dough, barely sticky. If it is dry and cracks, add the milk by teaspoons, without exceeding 2 tablespoons; if not needed, do not use it.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes, until it is cold and manageable.

The syrup

While the dough rests, put in a saucepan the 200 g sugar, the 200 ml water and the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until a light syrup that barely coats the spoon. Remove the cinnamon and let cool.

Frying and serving

With hands lightly floured with a little of the reserved flour, shape balls of about 25 g and between 3 and 4 cm in diameter. You should get about 24, all the same size so they fry evenly.
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Heat the oil in a deep pot or cauldron, with about 5 cm depth, to 170-175 °C. If you do not have a thermometer, a small piece of dough must rise bubbling gently, without sizzling violently.
Fry first a test ball. If it opens up or falls apart, add to the dough 1 tablespoon of the reserved flour, mix and reshape; if it browns too quickly and remains raw inside, lower the heat a little.
Fry in batches of 5 or 6 balls, turning them, for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden on the outside and cooked inside, with a pale and tender crumb. Do not fill the pot so the oil does not cool down.
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Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper.
At the moment of serving, place the fritters on the plates and bathe them with the lukewarm syrup, without drowning them. Serve immediately.
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Tips and variations

Choose your yam well. Use edible white yam (genus Dioscorea), with brown skin and white flesh. Do not substitute it for sweet potato or malanga: you would get a different sweet, with another texture and flavor. When peeling it, wear gloves, as its juice can irritate the skin. Always cook it until completely tender.

Orange blossom water, use a light hand. Use only food-grade orange blossom water and start with ¼ teaspoon: some brands are much more concentrated than others. Do not substitute it with essential oils or perfumes. If you don't have it, better omit it than improvise.

Adjust the dough without drowning it in flour. The dough should be firm but tender, barely sticky. If the test ball opens up in the oil, add the reserved flour one tablespoon at a time; if the dough cracks when shaping, a few teaspoons of milk will fix it. Shape small balls, between 3 and 4 cm in diameter, and check in the test ball that the inside is cooked before continuing with the batches.

Times. About 35 minutes of active work (peeling, mashing, mixing, and shaping), about 45 minutes of cooking (25 minutes boiling the yam and about 20 minutes frying per batch) and 40 minutes of waiting (10 to cool the puree and 30 minutes resting in the cold). The syrup is made during the rest time, so it does not add time. In total, about 2 hours.

Storage. Fritters are at their best freshly fried; bathe them with syrup only when serving so they do not soften. Raw dough keeps covered in the refrigerator for a few hours. Leftover syrup is kept in a closed jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Sources. The historical context comes from the catalog of the library of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, which collects the 1864 edition of J. P. Legran's manual, and from the digitized text of that work (page 122, with reference to the potato fritters on page 121).

This recipe contains wheat flour: not suitable for gluten-free diets.