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Mofongo
Mofongo (Spanish pronunciation: [moˈfoŋɡo]) is a dish from Puerto Rico with plantains as its main ingredient. Plantains are picked green, cut into pieces and typically fried in more modern versions but can be boiled in broth or roasted, then mashed with salt, garlic, pork, broth, and cooking oil (olive oil, butter, and lard is typically used) in a wooden pilón (mortar and pestle). Cassava and sweet potato are boiled, then roasted or flash-fried; plantains can also be made in this method or roasted before flash-frying. The goal is to produce a tight ball of mashed plantains that will absorb the attending condiments and have either pork cracklings (chicharrón) or bits of bacon inside. It is traditionally served with fried meat and chicken broth soup. Particular flavors result from variations that include vegetables, chicken, shrimp, beef, or octopus packed inside or around the plantain orb.
Mofongo is a traditional Puerto Rico dish combining influences from the cultures of the Greater Antilles Island descending from Spain, West Africa, and Taíno, where Puerto Rico gets most of its culture and roots. These cultural influences also resulted in the creation of mofongo's distantly-related but notably different West African dish fufu, but Mofongo's unique flavor comes from a combination of West African flavors and the Taíno Indian culinary tradition of mashing root vegetables, mixed with major Spanish culinary influences. Fufu, a sticky dough pulled and eaten by hand, is made from various starchy vegetables. Fufu was bought to the Caribbean by Africans in the Spanish New World colonies. Each country developed their own unique dish borne from their cultural origins and influences that were very different from original native dish such as Trinidad and Tobago (pong plantain also known as tum-tum), Cuba (fufu de plátano and machuquillo), Dominican Republic (mangú), Haiti (tomtom) and Puerto Rico (mofongo and funche criollo); this also most likely includes Colombia (cayeye), Ecuador (bolón), Costa Rica (angú), Amazon region, and Peru (tacacho).[citation needed]
The earliest known written recipes for mofongo appeared in Puerto Rico's first cookbook, El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario, in 1859. The title of the recipe is mofongo criollo. Green plantains are cleaned with lemon, boiled with veal and hen, then mashed with garlic, oregano, ají dulce, bacon or lard, and ham. It is then formed into a ball and eaten with the broth in which it was cooked.[citation needed]
The El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario has similar recipes. Funche criollo is made from green or yellow plantains boiled with taro or yams, mashed and eaten with sesame broth soup or a sauce made from garlic, lard, tomato sauce, onions, and ají dulce (sofrito). The similar funche criollo does not include pork, however, one of the a key ingredients in traditional mofongo.[citation needed]
Another well-known recipe was written by Elizabeth B.K. Dooley in her Puerto Rican cookbook (1948). The recipe calls for yellow plantains fried in lard, mashed with garlic, olive oil, and chicharrón, and then formed into a ball.[citation needed]
A 1980 booklet from the U.S. government promoting tourism in Puerto Rico wrote of mofongo as being "jocularly described as a Puerto Rican matzoh ball" and described mofongo as being a "mashed, roasted plantain, combine with bacon, spices and goes well with chicken soup". El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario also has an example of green plantains roasted over coal and eaten with fat and garlic called plátanos asado.[citation needed]
The recipe has many variants throughout Puerto Rico, but most have maintained the key ingredients of traditional mofongo, such as pork, cooking oil, spices, broth, and starch, as well as the use of a pilón for mashing. The contemporary interpretation of classic mofongo involves frying the starch in lard or oil, and that method makes the dish distinctively Puerto Rican, giving it a crusty, dense, and umami flavor.[citation needed]
Central African ethnic groups that populated Puerto Rico used the technique of a mallet to mash large amounts of starchy foods. The mash was then softened with liquids. The word "mofongo" stems from the Kikongo term mfwenge-mfwenge, which means "a great amount of anything at all".
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Mofongo
Mofongo (Spanish pronunciation: [moˈfoŋɡo]) is a dish from Puerto Rico with plantains as its main ingredient. Plantains are picked green, cut into pieces and typically fried in more modern versions but can be boiled in broth or roasted, then mashed with salt, garlic, pork, broth, and cooking oil (olive oil, butter, and lard is typically used) in a wooden pilón (mortar and pestle). Cassava and sweet potato are boiled, then roasted or flash-fried; plantains can also be made in this method or roasted before flash-frying. The goal is to produce a tight ball of mashed plantains that will absorb the attending condiments and have either pork cracklings (chicharrón) or bits of bacon inside. It is traditionally served with fried meat and chicken broth soup. Particular flavors result from variations that include vegetables, chicken, shrimp, beef, or octopus packed inside or around the plantain orb.
Mofongo is a traditional Puerto Rico dish combining influences from the cultures of the Greater Antilles Island descending from Spain, West Africa, and Taíno, where Puerto Rico gets most of its culture and roots. These cultural influences also resulted in the creation of mofongo's distantly-related but notably different West African dish fufu, but Mofongo's unique flavor comes from a combination of West African flavors and the Taíno Indian culinary tradition of mashing root vegetables, mixed with major Spanish culinary influences. Fufu, a sticky dough pulled and eaten by hand, is made from various starchy vegetables. Fufu was bought to the Caribbean by Africans in the Spanish New World colonies. Each country developed their own unique dish borne from their cultural origins and influences that were very different from original native dish such as Trinidad and Tobago (pong plantain also known as tum-tum), Cuba (fufu de plátano and machuquillo), Dominican Republic (mangú), Haiti (tomtom) and Puerto Rico (mofongo and funche criollo); this also most likely includes Colombia (cayeye), Ecuador (bolón), Costa Rica (angú), Amazon region, and Peru (tacacho).[citation needed]
The earliest known written recipes for mofongo appeared in Puerto Rico's first cookbook, El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario, in 1859. The title of the recipe is mofongo criollo. Green plantains are cleaned with lemon, boiled with veal and hen, then mashed with garlic, oregano, ají dulce, bacon or lard, and ham. It is then formed into a ball and eaten with the broth in which it was cooked.[citation needed]
The El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario has similar recipes. Funche criollo is made from green or yellow plantains boiled with taro or yams, mashed and eaten with sesame broth soup or a sauce made from garlic, lard, tomato sauce, onions, and ají dulce (sofrito). The similar funche criollo does not include pork, however, one of the a key ingredients in traditional mofongo.[citation needed]
Another well-known recipe was written by Elizabeth B.K. Dooley in her Puerto Rican cookbook (1948). The recipe calls for yellow plantains fried in lard, mashed with garlic, olive oil, and chicharrón, and then formed into a ball.[citation needed]
A 1980 booklet from the U.S. government promoting tourism in Puerto Rico wrote of mofongo as being "jocularly described as a Puerto Rican matzoh ball" and described mofongo as being a "mashed, roasted plantain, combine with bacon, spices and goes well with chicken soup". El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueño o Formulario also has an example of green plantains roasted over coal and eaten with fat and garlic called plátanos asado.[citation needed]
The recipe has many variants throughout Puerto Rico, but most have maintained the key ingredients of traditional mofongo, such as pork, cooking oil, spices, broth, and starch, as well as the use of a pilón for mashing. The contemporary interpretation of classic mofongo involves frying the starch in lard or oil, and that method makes the dish distinctively Puerto Rican, giving it a crusty, dense, and umami flavor.[citation needed]
Central African ethnic groups that populated Puerto Rico used the technique of a mallet to mash large amounts of starchy foods. The mash was then softened with liquids. The word "mofongo" stems from the Kikongo term mfwenge-mfwenge, which means "a great amount of anything at all".
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