Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Mofongo

Mofongo is a fried plantain-based dish from the island of Puerto Rico. It is generally made from fried green plantains (although fried yuca or breadfruit are possible) which is mashed together with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork cracklings or bits of bacon. It is often filled with vegetables, chicken, crab, shrimp, or beef and is often served with fried meat and chicken broth soup. Mofongo relleno is mofongo stuffed with stewed beef, chicken or seafood, with stewed sauce poured over.

A Dominican cookbook author says that mofongo in Dominican cuisine can be traced back to Puerto Rico but scholarship indicates the dish is ultimately of African origin and is a variant of a dish called "fufu" which is made from various starchy vegetables and was introduced to the Caribbean by Africans in the Spanish New World colonies such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. But unlike mofongo where unripened plantains are fried, then mashed, fufu is made of either green or semi-ripe plantain boiled then mashed.  Both fufu and mofongo are seasoned after the plantains are cooked and mashed.

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