Mofongo

Ingredients

• 4 green plantains
• 500 ml vegetable oil, for frying
• 300 g pork belly, in small cubes
• 8 garlic cloves
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1½ tsp salt
• 100 ml warm chicken stock

Method

1. Peel and cut into chunks

   Peel the plantains under water and cut them into 3 cm chunks — thicker than for tostones, because these are fried once and then mashed, not flattened.

2. Fry until golden and soft

   Fry at a moderate 165°C for about eight minutes, until golden outside and cooked through. Hot oil browns the outside before the inside softens, and hard plantain will not come together in the pilón.

   8 min

3. Crisp the pork

   In a separate pan, fry the pork belly until the cubes are crisp and have given up their fat. Keep the fat — it goes into the mash.

   15 min

4. Pound garlic first

   Crush the garlic with the salt and olive oil in a mortar into a rough paste, then add the hot plantain a few pieces at a time and pound. Garlic first is not a detail — pounded into the paste it perfumes everything, stirred in afterwards it stays a raw note on top.

5. Loosen with stock, fold in the pork

   Work in the warm stock and the pork fat a spoonful at a time until it holds together but is not stiff, then fold through the crisp pork. Press into a bowl and turn out in a dome.

6. Serve at once

   Mofongo waits for no one. It stiffens as it cools, so it goes to the table straight from the mortar, with a bowl of hot broth or the sauce from a guiso alongside.