Top Chef Tuesday: Makin' Mofongo!

Last week, the Cheftestants embarked on a Quickfire Challenge where they had to make a dish based upon an emoji. Chef Amar honed-in on the Banana emoji, as it reminded him of plantain. Hearing the word plantain and seeing the featurette on him growing up in the Dominican, I knew what I had to do. I’ve eaten this delicious dish once or twice, but this was the first time I ever made it and it was absolutely spectacular: savory, salty, garlicky, and delicious. The first time I ever ate this was with a friend who is no longer around, but Chef David (“Cali”) would be proud to eat this and I can just hear his laugh and see his smile like it was yesterday. This one’s for you, my man. Watch my next episode of Top Chef Tuesday and get cooking with the recipe below!

Mofongo

(makes 4-6)

Sauce

• Small onion

• ½ green pepper, seeded and chopped

• ½ red pepper, seeded and chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

• Heavy pinch of cilantro

• 1 cup of passata or tomato sauce

Mojo

• 3 large garlic cloves, peeled

• Sea salt or Kosher salt

• ¼ cup olive oil

• Juice from 1 lime

Mofongo

• ~3 cups of vegetable oil

• 3 plantains

• 1.5 cups Chicharrónes

• Prepared sauce and Mojo

• Cilantro for garnish

Prepare the sauce. In a 10” nonstick skillet, heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Place the roughly chopped veggies in a mini-prep and blitz until finely chopped. Place in the skillet, and season with salt and pepper.

Cook for about 2 minutes until all of the juices have released from the veggies. Then, add in the tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until thickened and dark. Turn off the heat and leave covered until ready to prepare the mofongo.

Meanwhile, place a pot of vegetable oil (oil should be about 3 inches deep) over a medium-high burner, until it reaches 350-375 degrees. Also, place ¼ cup of olive oil in a small pot, over medium heat.

Prepare the mojo. Place the garlic in a molcajete (or mortar & pestle bowl), along with 2 pinches of flaky sea salt and pound into a paste. Then pour in the hot oil, infusing it with the garlic. Juice one lime into the mixture and set aside.

Prepare the mofongo. Make three slices in the peel (not the flesh) of the plantain and cut off both ends. Place your index finger between one of the peel segments and the flesh and run your finger down the plantain, removing the peel. Slice into 1.5” portions and place in the hot pot full of oil.

Fry half of the sliced plantains for about 7 minutes, until the exteriors are golden, but not crispy. The plantain will look a bit like a bottle cork. Remove from the oil, with a slotted spoon, and place on some paper towels. Season lightly with more flaky salt. Repeat with the remaining batch of plantain.

Once the plantains have fried, add them into the molcajete (or a large bowl) full of the mojo and smash until they flatten and begin soaking up the mojo. Add in the chicharrónes and continue to mash until cohesive. Spoon in a heaping tablespoon of the prepared sauce, mash briefly, and mix together. Taste for any seasoning needs.

Once satisfied with the texture and taste of the mofongo, form into a ball, roughly the size of a tennis ball. Spoon on a little more sauce and garnish with some cilantro and more chicharrón.

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