Alcapurria in Puerto Rico

I’d say at least 50% of my time in Puerto Rico was spent eating. I met almost every single person in Pedro’s family, and every single one of them wanted to feed me. Clearly, this is my kind of country/family. One of my favorite dishes that a family member served me was an alcapurria.

So What’s an alcapurria?

An alcapurria is basically a doughy pocket made of guineo, plantains and/or yuca (or other root plants) stuffed with some sort of meat, such as crab or ground beef. The pocket is then fried and eaten by hand. It doesn’t sound too fancy, but the taste is impressive.

How to Make an Alcapurria

I wish I had a video of Pedro’s sweet little grandma explaining this, because she does it so much better. After she fetched me a special “visitors” glass for my water and handed me an alcapurria to chow down on, she took me on a tour of her kitchen and explained the entire process to me.

First, she takes guineo (although you can also use plantains) and grates them. She even showed me her grater that she has been using for the past 50 years. She sometimes adds yuca as well.

After that she adds some spices, such as abobo, and oils. I can’t give you the exact ingredients, I promised not to give away her secrets! I can tell you that most recipes keep it simple with oil or shortening and salt.

She explained that she allows the dough to sit overnight, and swears that this is the key to its deliciousness. Of course, if you don’t have that kind of time or dedication, you can skip the wait and get to the filling.

Pedro’s grandma stuffed her alcapurrias with ground beef, which she fried up and let cool before stuffing the dough. Once the dough is stuffed, you drop them in a pan full of oil and fry them up. Pedro’s grandma laid her alcapurrias out on paper towels to limit the grease, a method you will not likely find when buying an alcapurria on the side of the road.

Alcapurria from a roadside stand in Puerto Rico

All that greasy goodness

Like I said, this was one of my favorite dishes. I loved it so much that I forced Pedro to pull onto the side of the road on the way to the airport so I could get one last alcapurria. The roadside alcapurria was greasier than those made by Pedro’s grandma. I found both versions to be quite tasty but, unsurprisingly, grandma’s version was slightly better!