Mofongo is a dish of fried green plantains mashed with garlic, oil, broth, and pork cracklings or chicharrón (fried pork belly or pork rinds). If there are no cracklings or chicharrón, bacon can be used as substitute. It is, simply, garlic-flavoured mashed green plantains. While it is a dish that is made popular by Puerto Rico, Mofongo can trace its
roots to Africa and another mashed starchy dish known to many of us as foo-foo.
Similar versions of this dish can be found in other Spanish-speaking countries in the region, like Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Mofongo can be served two ways – stuffed with cooked meat or seafood or as a mound of mash to be eaten with a very saucy stew of meat or seafood. Either way, it is excellent, especially, if like me, you are a lover of green plantains.
Making Mofongo is very easy to do at home but you do need a mortar and pestle. This is one of those handmade dishes that require some work. And a food processor would, could not do the job. Some planning is involved if you are determined to make it with cracklings or chicharrón; however, if bacon is all you have on hand, go for it. In my case, I had the rind of a ham that I crisped up in a pan and used in place of the cracklings/chicharrón/bacon.
I took the time to slowly infuse oil with the garlic, during the process, the garlic was cooked gently until golden with a hint of colour. It was so fragrant.
I made the balls to serve as a side dish with stewed chicken.
Here is what you need and how to make Mofongo balls.
INGREDIENTS
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced thinly and cut matchstick like
- ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 cup cooked, chopped bacon, cracklings or chicharrón
- 3 pounds green plantains
- Vegetable/canola oil for shallow frying
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup hot meat or vegetable stock
DIRECTIONS
- Add the garlic and oil to a cold pan and place on low heat. Cook until the garlic starts to fry gently and turns golden with a hint of colour. Remove and pour into a bowl and set aside.
- Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, peel and cut plantains into 1-inch thick rounds. Working in batches, fry the plantains until golden and fully cooked.
- Working in batches, add some of the garlic and oil to the mortar along bacon/crackling/ chicharrón and a little broth and pound with the pestle until mashed well and the ingredients are mixed together; taste and season with salt and pepper. Form into balls and set aside. Repeat until all the plantains, garlic-oil, bacon, cracklings/ chicharrón and broth are used up. Form into balls and serve accompanied with a poultry, meat or seafood stew.
NOTE
- When seasoning the Mofongo with salt, remember that there will be salt from the bacon, crackling/ chicharrón and that it will be eaten with a stew.
