- [Narrator] Welcome back to "Street Food with Senpai."
Today, we're headed to the Dominican Republic
to recreate their national breakfast,
Mangu Con Los Tres Golpes,
the Three Hits, fried salami, fried eggs, and fried cheese.
All that's served with pickled onions, avocados, and mangu
which are mashed plantains.
We're not gonna stop there though
'cause plantains are the cornerstone
of South American cuisine and they are also super versatile.
So I'm gonna show you how to make a couple different things
with them.
Plantain chips, maduros which are sweet little plantains,
and one of my favorite things, tostones, baby.
First thing we're making is a fermented pineapple beverage
called guarapo de pina.
You might be familiar with tepache,
which is the Mexican variation.
Combine one quart of water with 3/4 cup of granulated sugar,
and then set aside.
Find a pineapple that's pretty ripe.
Ideally more golden than this one.
Cut the top and bottom off
so it doesn't wobble around on you
and trim off the outer layers as well as those little eyes.
Then you cut the juicy meat off the pillar
and slice that core into smaller pieces.
Take all the peels and the core too
and dunk it into that sugar water.
Cover that and set aside at room temperature
for one to two days.
Now we're gonna pickle some onions for the mangu.
This is the essential, crucial, acidic ingredient
to an otherwise super salty fat bomb of a dish.
Cut off both ends of a large red onion,
peel it and cut it in half.
Cut those into fairly thin julienne strips and set aside.
In a separate pot, combine two cups of white vinegar,
one cup of white sugar, one cup of water,
and a super pinch of salt.
Bring it to a boil just to dissolve it all
and then pour it over the funions.
Give that a quick toss
and place a paper towel over to keep it all submerged.
Now it'll be pretty tasty in like two or three hours,
but it is best after a full nap in the fridge.
Now switching to the mangu,
it all starts with two unripe green plantains.
We have to peel it first,
so you gotta cut off both ends of it
and score it through the skin on two sides.
Cover it with plenty of water and bring it to a boil.
After like five, 10 minutes of simmering
take them out to dry it off for a bit
and it should easily fall right off the bone.
Cut those 'naners into big chunks
and add it to some fresh water with a fist full of salt,
and simmer that for another 15-ish minutes
until it's super tender.
Add those to your mashing bowl with a good amount
of that banana stock and give it a quick smashing.
Add four tablespoons of butter,
a lot of bit of salt and mash again.
You can add more water to get whatever consistency you like.
And that's your mangu, dude.
Now with two more plantains that we boiled in the same way
we're gonna make some tostones.
Peel them and cut them slightly wider.
First, you gotta blanche them in 250 degree oil
for about five minutes to soften them up,
kind of like french fries.
While they're still warm,
place it onto a plate and slowly smash it
with another plate to get that tostone shape.
Repeat the process with all the other dudes
while you heat up the oil to 325.
Fry them again for another two to three minutes.
Salt them liberally and the tostones are done.
You can also take green plantains to make plantain chips.
You just need one of these green mandolines.
Holding on for dear life, slice them very carefully.
I like to keep the skin on for a better grip
and it ends up crisping up too and tasting great.
Only slice into what you're comfortable with.
Don't worry about any extra.
Just save your fingertips, man. You kind of need them.
To keep them from oxidizing,
just pour water over them and keep it submerged.
Dry them off a bit before frying.
Otherwise, they're gonna pop everywhere.
300 Fahrenheit is the best temp to steam up the camera
and fully crisp up the chips without burning them.
If you like sweet plantains,
pick up a plantain that's pretty black.
Just like a banana,
a lot of the complex carbs have broken down
into simple sugars.
Cut the ends off, peel them,
and then cut it at an angle.
Fry it at 300 until it's a dark golden brown.
The darker the better actually
'cause it's just gonna taste like caramelized sugar.
For all that, we'll make a little mojo dipping sauce too.
In a small bowl juice,
one lime and one orange to make a pseudo sour orange juice.
A very important ingredient in South American cuisine.
In a separate bowl, mix half a cup of neutral oil
and grate in two garlic cloves.
Season with salt and pepper and a little lime zest.
Add in a few tablespoons
of that sour orange juice and taste it before realizing.
Yeah, we're gonna need way more of that.
That's it, dog. You just set that to the side.
Now we can bring the Los Tres Golpes altogether.
One of the most important parts is Dominican salami.
This Tropical brand is pretty easy to find
in any Hispanic market.
Imagine like a mix of deli salami and summer sausage.
Slice them into pretty thick coins and set aside.
Now we gotta cut some queso de freir,
which is frying cheese, like halloumi.
It's not gonna melt everywhere when you heat it up.
If you can't find that,
queso fresco or paneer work really well too.
Fry up the salami first over medium heat
and get it super crispy.
Then you sear that cheese in all that salami fat.
This part is absolutely glorious.
For this specific dish, this isn't traditional,
but the world should know
about Salvadorian/South American chorizo.
You can find this right next to the salami,
and I guarantee this will be the best sausage
you've ever eaten.
The last step is to fry the eggs.
I fry them at a very high heat in a good amount of oil.
And then once I add the eggs,
I'll turn it down to like a medium low.
That'll get the white super crispy.
To plate it traditionally, add your mangu
and top with a bunch of pickled onions.
Add your fried salami,
the fried salami cheese, and your eggs.
Lastly, garnish with some avocados
with a little bit of lime and salt to season them.
That's it, Los Tres Golpes.
Man, you already know this is balling,
especially the cheese, the salami and the cheese,
and the salami.
And oh snap. I forgot about the other johns.
I found that pineapple that's been fermented for a day.
strained it, and poured it over ice
with some dried pineapple.
Here's the rest of the feast.
You know, I guess if I have to, I'll eat all of this.
Food really does not get any better than this.
Fancy food is cool,
all the shiny techniques and the expensive ingredients,
but it'll never make you feel as happy as me right now.
(gentle upbeat music)