Mofongo

Recipe for the day is... Mofongo! Mofongo is a dish that is thought to have originated from Puerto Rico, and can often be found there. The main ingredient is fried green plantains. Yummy!

I decided to make this dish for my roommate Darrell's 24th birthday. Mofongo has been his favorite meal since having it while vacationing in Puerto Rico--- lucky him! It was definitely fun to make, however since I've  never had Mofongo, it was pretty hard to tell whether I had made it correctly or not. He seemed to like it, so it couldn't have turned out too bad, right??

Mofongo

Recipe adapted from: The Cooking Channel

The recipe is pretty simple, the only thing that I found challenging was frying the plantains properly. I have yet to purchase a deep fryer, so I just had to use a deep frying pan. You want to make sure they're starting to brown, but not too brown, otherwise they'll be too dry. Think of them as the consistency of pretty much a potato. If you were to deep fry a potato too long, at some point it becomes too dry and hard to mash--- which is what you do to the plantains after you've fried them.

Also this recipe says to use bacon (which is great, because what meat-eater doesn't like bacon?!), but I think this recipe might have been a little too simple. The bacon was pretty much the only stand out flavor. For next time I think I'll go with a a recipe that calls for a few more flavorful ingredients--- maybe this one: Mofongo Relleno de Pollo Guisado?