| I was making this side/main dish so often in my house my kids got sick of it, but it is soooooooo freakin' yummy!Ingredients:
(Plaintains with Pork Rinds)3 green plaintains1 teaspoon salt1/2 lb.Crisp fried pork rinds4 cups water3 garlic cloves1 tablespoon olive oilOptional: fried bacon, lard or vegetable oilDirections:
1.Peel plaintains.Cut into one inch slices.2.Heat fat or oil(350 degrees if you are using a deep fryer).Add plaintain slices, a few at a time or they won't mash in the mortar and fry for 15 minutes but do not brown.Drain on paper towel.3.In a mortar(for pounding), crush garlic cloves and sprinkle with salt, add olive oil to the mixture and keep pounding.( all these ingredients are to taste.?I prefer mine to be extra garlicky.?Use fresh garlic not the stuff in the jar!)4.Crush a portion of the fried plaintains slices and the pork.Add some of the garlic and olive oil mixture and keep pounding.5.Turn over the wooden mortar onto a shallow plate6.Prepare chicken broth and pour over mofongo, so it will be juicy.Enjoy
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Some other typical Puerto Rican dishes, they have African/Spanish and Taino roots.There are plenty of them.Here are just a few:Arroz con gandules - Puerto Rico's national dish, it is a rice-and-pigeon-pea dish seasoned with sofrito and smoked ham.( I have to make this dish at least 2x a week for my son loves it, I add bits of meat, chicken, vienna sausages..lol)
Arroz con habichuelas - Literally "rice and beans", this dish is so common that the phrase "rice and beans" means essentially the same as "our daily bread" in northern countries.Dried pink beans are slowly stewed with chunks of calabaza (tropical pumpkin) flavored with a sofrito base, and then ladled over a mound of rice.Sticky medium-grained rice is more popular in Puerto Rico than long grain rice.( Pink beans??noooo, no no....they are RED KIDNEY beans!every day, rice and beans!)Plaintains - Almost as popular as arroz y habichuelas are pltanos (plantains, or cooking bananas.They are daily fare, whether cooked green, deep-fried and mashed as tostones, or boiled and seasoned with escabeche.They can be let to mature until they are spotted outside and golden inside, and then deep-fried as maduros or amarillos.Sometimes they are baked instead of deep-fried, (we even boil the ripe ones for the kiddies and serve them with a little milk.)Carne Guisada - Puerto Rican beef stew
Fricas de pollo - Hearty and spicy chicken stew with potatoes, olives and peas.( Man, we used to eat this almost every day!They should call this recipe "how to make a potato and chicken leg last a week" lol)
Mondongo (Menudo) - Beef tripe stew.( had this but wouldn't eat the tripe, lol)
Sancocho de patitas - Hearty pork feet stew with starchy vegetables, plantains, and Garbanzo beans.( Oh, how my mom loved them pig feet!)Cuajitos en salsa (Buche) - Puerto Rican dish made with pork belly in a red hot sauce ( This is a popular dish in "cuchifrito joints"
Rabo encendido - Spicy and hot oxtail stew.Empanadillas de carne/mariscos/queso - Meat, seafood, or cheese turnovers usually called "empanadas" in other Spanish-speaking countries.On the eastern side of the island empanadillas are known as pastelillos, although pastelillo also refers to a pastry turnover that has guava paste inside and powdered sugar.Mofongo - Mofongo is a popular dish, made from fried yuca or fried green plantains seasoned with garlic, olive oil and pork cracklings, then mashed.Mofongo is usually served with a fried meat and a fish broth soup.?( never made with yucca or fish broth baby.?Wrong, wrong wrong-o.?Just Green fried plantains and chicken stock, but so right about the fried meat chunks!)Seafood - On certain coastal towns of the island, such as Luquillo, Fajardo, and Cabo Rojo, seafood is quite popular, although much of it is imported.Only a tiny number of fishermen ply the waters off Puerto Rico today, and their catch never leaves their seacoast towns.The fact that the island sits next to the deepest part of the Atlantic means there is no wide continental shelf to foster a rich offshore fishery; neither are there any large rivers to dump extra nutrients into the sea that could build up a fish population.Popular seafood include bacalao (codfish), chapn (tropical fish), pulpo (octopus, not always canned), carrucho (conch), camarones (shrimp), langosta (lobster) (most commonly caught in the surrounding waters), and jueyes (crabs).Alcapurrias - This food consists of a seasoned meat or crab filling wrapped in a seasoned dough of mashed green bananas and taro root/Yauta (mashed yuca may be used too), which is then deep fried.( My mom used to make these with crab meat and wrapped in aluminum foil)
Arepas/Domplines - These are fried rounds of flour-based dough.Sometimes they can contain coconut (known as arepas de coco).They are sometimes stuffed with seafood.( no, these are Central and South American goodies)
Bacalatos - These are fritters made from a pancake-like batter containing codfish, flour, and seasoning.( OMG these are so freaking yummy!this was our "fast street foods, equivalent of the NYC hot dog!)Taquitos - Puerto Rican "Chimichanga"..( nope, another mystery)
Morcilla - A type of spicy and hot blood sausage.( This is sooooo good with boiled green bananas)
Sorullos - Fried corn meal logs (much like little tamales), sometimes stuffed with cheese.( great with the morning hot chocolate )
Guanimes - Semi-sweet tamales, wrapped in banana leaves.?( never had these )
Piononos - Fried filled ripe plantain rolls.?( These were made in my house as a sort of egg, chopped meat, ripe plantain caserole dish.)Canoas - Ripe plantain "canoes" stuffed with ground meat and covered with melted cheese.( Never had these at home, but had them at restaurants, and never with cheese)
A great blog with great photos of typical Puerto Rican dishes can be found here:
http://dailygluttony.blogspot.com
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Enjoy our typically heavy and filling food, but remember that we never were supposed to eat during the day like this, these dishes were reserved for the end of the day, to share with a tableful of family and friends!3:16 PM2Comments
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