~717 cal · 25g protein · 52g carbs · 46g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Golden pan-cooked starch and cheese cake
🇵🇾 Asunción
Mbejú is Paraguayan comfort with Guaraní roots: cassava starch and cornflour bound with cheese and fat, then pressed into a hot pan and cooked into a dense, chewy cake. Torn and dipped in hot cocido (burnt-sugar mate), it is the everyday breakfast of Asunción and the countryside alike.
Sign in to save recipes to your book and leave reviews.
Make it yours
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 4 —
•
2 cups cassava starch (almidón)
•
1/2 cup fine cornflour
•
1.5 cups fresh cheese (Paraguay), crumbled
•
1/3 cup butter or pork fat
•
as needed milk to bind
•
1 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Rub the fat into the cassava starch and cornflour with the salt until it looks like damp crumbs.
2
Work in the crumbled cheese and just enough milk so the mixture holds when pressed but stays loose.
3
Press an even layer into a hot, lightly greased pan and cook, undisturbed, until the underside is golden.
4
Flip carefully and crisp the other side; serve hot, torn and dipped in cocido or coffee.
Asunción and Guaraní country kitchens.
Ratings & reviews
Sign in to rate this recipe once you’ve cooked it.
No reviews yet — be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Asunción. Home of the world’s proudest "soup you can slice."
🗺️
Paraguay. Guaraní corn and cheese traditions, twice baked.
🌍
South America. Andes, Amazon, and Atlantic all on one plate.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
More from Paraguay
Sopa Paraguaya
The famous "soup you can slice": a rich cornbread of onions, cheese, and corn flour, born of a happy kitchen accident.