Mofongo (Green Plantain Mash with Garlic and Pork Crackle) 🍌

Name: Mofongo (Green Plantain Mash with Garlic and Pork Crackle)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Dominican
Ingredients: 3 medium green plantains, peeled and cut into 3 cm chunks; 6-8 garlic cloves, sliced, fried until pale gold; 1 cup crispy pork cracklings (chicharrón), roughly chopped; 1/2 cup good olive oil or rendered bacon fat, plus more for deep frying; Salt to taste; 1 pinch of dry oregano if you like; 2 cups hot beef or chicken broth, for serving and moistening; Optional stuffing: shredded steak, stewed shrimp, or a fried egg

Take the island's two arrivals and pound them into one: West African fried green plantains, Taíno-style mashing, and Spanish garlic-pork fat. Ripe-ish green plantains are fried in chunks until the edges blister, then hammered in a wooden pilón with fried garlic, lots of olive oil or bacon fat, and a fistful of chicharrón. The mash is shaped into a wobble-topped mound and served with beef broth on the side for dunking — spoon some in and it becomes mofongo relleno territory, stuffed or served with shrimp, steak or egg. National comfort food of the Dominican Republic: cheap, garlic-heavy, built for second helpings.

Caribbean Dominican ⏱ 50 Min Mittel

Zubereitung

1

Heat 4-5 cm of oil in a heavy pot to about 160°C. Fry plantain chunks in batches until tender through and lightly blistered outside, 6-8 minutes. Drain well.
2

In the same oil, flash-fry the garlic slices until pale gold; pull them out the second they color — brown garlic turns bitter.
3

Working fast while everything is hot, mash the plantains in a pilón or heavy mortar with the fried garlic, half the cracklings, a good pour of olive oil and salt. Pound — don't purée: you want rustic lumps.
4

Keep adding hot oil (or broth for a lighter version) until the mash holds together but still trembles. Fold in most of the remaining chicharrón.
5

Turn out into a dome-shaped mound. Serve with a bowl of hot broth alongside for dunking, and the last of the cracklings scattered on top.
6

Variation: hollow the mound and stuff it with stewed shrimp, shredded beef or a fried egg — that's mofongo relleno, the street-food upgrade.

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