National Dishes of the World

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Mofongo
Photo: Diane, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Mofongo

Fried green plantains pounded in a mortar with garlic and crisp pork crackling, served with broth or prawns.

Eaten in: Puerto Rico

Prep
20 min
Cooking
25 min
Total
45 min
Servings
4

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About the dish

Mofongo is one of Puerto Rico's signature dishes, related to African dishes of pounded starchy vegetables such as fufu. Green plantains are cut into chunks, fried and then pounded while still hot in a wooden mortar (pilón) with garlic, olive oil and crisp bits of fried pork crackling (chicharrón) or bacon. The result is a firm, fragrant dome with a slightly crunchy texture, served straight from the mortar or shaped on the plate. Mofongo comes with a bowl of chicken broth for pouring over, or as mofongo relleno, hollowed out and filled with prawns in garlic sauce, meat or seafood in tomato sauce. There are versions made with cassava (mofongo de yuca) and mixes with ripe plantain such as trifongo.

Main ingredients

  • green plantains
  • garlic
  • chicharrón (pork crackling)
  • olive oil
  • chicken broth

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Mofongo

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/mofongo

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Peel the plantains and cut into rounds 2–3 cm thick. Dip them briefly in salted water, then pat dry.

  2. If using bacon, dice it and fry until crisp. Crumble the chicharrones into smaller pieces.

  3. In a mortar, crush the garlic with the salt and olive oil to a paste.

  4. Heat the oil to 170°C and fry the plantains for 8–10 minutes until tender inside and golden outside, but not deeply browned. Drain on kitchen paper.

  5. While still hot, pound the plantains in batches in the mortar (or in a bowl with a masher) with the garlic paste and chicharrones until you have a firm but not smooth mass.

  6. Pack the mixture into a small bowl to shape 4 domes and turn them out onto plates. Serve at once with the hot broth for pouring over.

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