Mofongo is a fried plantain-based dish. It is typically made with fried green
plantains mashed together in a pilón, with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork
cracklings or bits of bacon. It can be filled with vegetables, chicken, crab,
shrimp, or beef and is often served with fried meat and chicken broth soup.
Mofongo relleno is mofongo served with braised meat or seafood poured over it.
Origins Mofongo is an Afro-Puerto Rican dish
that has clear roots in the west African Fufu. Fufu is made from various starchy
vegetables and was introduced to the Caribbean by Africans in the Spanish New
World colonies such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Fufu consists
of starchy root vegetables and plantains boiled then mashed until a dough-like
consistency with water, butter, or milk. Method
Mofongo evolved from fufu and is most often made from plantains, but other
starchy roots can also be used. The plantains and/or starchy roots are cut
about half inch thick and deep fried. When done the plantains/roots are crisp
outside but dense inside. The plantains/roots are then mashed with
broth, olive oil, garlic, pork cracklings, and seasoning. The
consistency of mofongo is much more stiff than fufu.
Variations It is also common in Puerto Rico to make
mofongo with cassava, taro and eddoe, bread fruit, or a combination of
cassava, ripe and green plantains, ripe and unripe plantains.
Thanksgiving is an American holiday that has been adopted by Puerto Rico. Turkey
is the main focus on every thanksgiving table and is traditional stuffed with
bread. The traditional bread stuffing is replaced with mofongo de batata in
Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans homes outside the commonwealth.
Frito-Lay produces MoFongo Snax, a combined plantain chips, cassava chips
and pork rinds into one bag. Mofongo has become popular with
Dominicans and have their own unique liking. Dominicans add queso frito and
replace the olive oil with butter. The plantains in making traditional mofongo
are not always fried but boiled. Mofongo outside of Puerto Rico
In Cuba mofongo is called Machuquillo. The plantains are not fried but boiled.
Machuquillo is often garnished with parsley and served with roasted pork or
chicken. During the 1960s many Dominicans who
feared the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo fled to Puerto Rico and New
York City. Mofongo caught on quickly with Dominicans living in Puerto Rico
and New York City. Plantains are a Dominican staple and their third most
important crop after rice and beans. Mofongo is a flagship food for many
Dominican restaurants. Mofongo is also popular in New York, New
Jersey, Chicago, Florida, and anywhere large numbers of Puerto Ricans or
Dominicans reside. In popular culture
Food Network chef and host Guy Fieri featured mofongo from Benny's Seafood
and from El Bohio on two separate episodes of his show Diners, Drive-Ins
and Dives. He liked the dish so much that he called it the "best fried thing
I ever ate" on an episode of the show The Best Thing I Ever Ate.
Mofongo is featured in a Season 2 episode of Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell
as the opening dish challenge. In a Season 3 episode of Sanford and
Son, Lamont tells his father that he has met their new next-door neighbor, Puerto
Rican Julio Fuentes. Lamont tells his father that Fuentes gave him "a dish of
some stuff that was terrific", which was mofongo.
In The HBO Series How to Make it in America, Episode 5 of the second season
is entitled "Mofongo". In it, the dish is prepared and served by one of the
characters. An episode of the Travel Channel's Man
v. Food Nation set in Harlem showed the host, Adam Richman, visiting a Spanish
Harlem restaurant called La Fonda Boricua, where they make a giant
12-plantain mofongo called the "Mofongaso".
Perhaps the oldest song mentioning mofongo is called Puertorriqueño by Joe
Valle and César Concepción. Singer Ismael Rivera with conductor
Rafael Cortijo sung a plena song called Mofongo Pelao about mofongo.
Pun pun catalu is a merengue song by Celia Cruz with Willie Colón. The song
is about how Cuba, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico share similarities. She
mentions how mashed plantains with pork cracklings are called fufú in her Cuba,
mangú in Quisqueya, and mofongo in Borinquen.
Puerto Ricos oldest group El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico plays a salsa song called
El Menu about popular food in Puerto Rico. Andy Montañez brings up mofongo,
saying "Tráigame el mofongo" over backup vocals as they sing "Y después que le
pongan salsa". Daniel Santos and Davilita two jibaros
sing about native culture of Puerto Rico on a song called "Go Home Yankee".
Mofongo is one of the native foods that Santos sings about in the song.
See also Caribbean cuisine
Cayeye Fufu
List of banana dishes Mangú
Puerto Rican cuisine Tacacho
References External links
Mofongo with Pork Rind & Bacon Trifongo Recipe
Mofongo recipe Mofongo recipe
Mofongo de Yucca Crab Mofongo
Mofongo de Pana