What's up vegan friends and vegan curious friends, and everyone else! So glad you found your way to my blog, and this recipe. I've got something seriously delicious in store for you and I think this is going to be your go to plantain recipe after this.
Today we are going to transport your tastebuds to the Caribbean with this Puerto Rican classic known as Mofongo! Its composed of fried, mashed plantains loaded with a ground no meat carne, and a scratch-made golden cheddar.
Traditional mofongo is made using plantains, olive oil, garlic and chicharrones. Nothing else and nothing more. We are going to be making a loaded version of this. I'll give you some great tips and tricks to get the authentic taste without any of the cruelty or cholesterol of chicharrones.
We will start with marinating the Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) overnight,
or for at least 4-6 hours. When shopping for TVP, get a small crumble- THIS is the one I use.
To work with textured vegetable protein, you need to first re-hydrate the product with a flavorful marinade, then cook it until it looses almost all the moisture (so it wont be a soggy piece of mush) and then brown it, if you're going for a nice textural bite... like we are today!
The marinade that the textured vegetable protein is going to soak in is
4 oz Textured Vegetable Protein
2 cups water + vegan boullion
1 bunch Cilantro, chopped
1 Oranges, zest & juiced
1 limed, juiced
1/2 Red Onion, sliced
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
3 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
Place all the above ingredients in a ziplock bag or large air tight container. Let the vegetable protein marinate overnight or 4-6 hours.
Once marinaded, drain the mixture of all the liquid. Keeping the cilantro and onions for cooking. Heat a cast iron, or non-stick skillet over medium heat and add in a 2 tbsp drizzle of grapeseed oil (any high smoke point oil will work). Once the oil moves like water when the pan is tilted- it's ready to fry in.
Place some- not all of your marinated TVP, onions and cilantro in the pan, allowing the moisture to begin to cook out slowly. Stirring every minute or so- to help develop a beautiful browning color. If the TVP begins to stick to your pan, add another 1 tbsp of oil.
Once most of the moisture has been absorbed or cooked out reduce the heat to medium low and allow the TVP to get a little crispy. The entire cooking process of the TVP should take about 10-15 minutes. Once complete, set aside and let cool.
For making the golden cheddar you will need a glass container of some sort- as it is a block cheese that needs to cool and harden in something, before cutting or shredding.
The cheese is very simple to make but takes a few interesting ingredients. For equipment all you need is a blender, silicone spatula, saucepan and the container you will form the cheese in. For ingredients you will need:
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup refined coconut oil - melted
1 1/3 homemade almond milk - RECIPE HERE
1 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp onion powder
Melt coconut oil in the microwave until liquid. Using a high powered blender, bend together the almond milk, tapioca flour kappa carrageenan, nutritional yeast, miso paste, tomato paste, sea salt, mustard seeds and onion powder.
Once blended together, pour mixture into a medium saucepan. Heat pan over medium/high heat. Add in coconut oil, use a silicone spatula to mix together. The mixture will look separated at this stage- that is normal.
Stir the mixture continuously, but slowly with the silicone spatula. Once mixture begins to thicken (3-5 minutes) and develop curds reduce the heat to medium/low.
Start to stir quickly as the mixture thickens scrapping the sides to incorporate ingredients evenly. After several minutes the oil should begin to emulsify with the milk and other ingredients. When the cheese begins puling away from the edges of the saucepan the cooking is complete.
*To ensure the cooking is complete taste test the mixture- make sure you can no longer taste any raw starches.*
Remove from the heat and mix in apple cider vinegar- stirring vigorously to ensure it blends together well. Quickly, move cheese from the saucepan to glass dish so it can set. Cool completely then, refrigerate for 30 minutes. In a pinch? Freeze it for 15!
For the mofongo aka mashed plantains, you will need a cast iron skillet or something similar to shallow fry in, a morter and pestle (mocajete) and a cutting board + knife.
For ingredients to make mofongo you will need:
5 green plantains, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, mashed
1.5 cups grapeseed oil
kosher salt
To begin making mofongo you need to peel the plantains and chop them into 1 inch pieces. For a visual, watch the tutorial video here.
Heat a medium cast-iron or shallow pan over medium/high heat. Add in 1 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil (or any high smoke point oil) and allow to heat until ready for frying. To test if the oil is ready to fry in- place a wooden spoon or spatula in the oil, if it bubbles its ready!
Reduce the heat to medium and begin moving the plantains to the hot oil. Fry them on the first side for 3 minutes, then flip and fry for another 3 minutes. The plantains should be golden and a little brown- but not crispy. Be careful not to let your oil get too hot!
Move the plantains to the morter and pestle a few at a time, beginning to mash them. Place a clove of garlic in the morter with every few plantains- mashing it all together with sprinkles of salt in between. Keep repeating this until all your fried plantains have been mashed together with your crushed garlic cloves.
Preheat your oven to 350F
Now it's time to bring all these delicious flavors together... Mofongo + Sin Carne Picadillo + Vegan Cheddar. Grab a large bowl, grab you cheese from the fridge , the sin carne mixture and your mofongo.
Add all of your mashed plantains to the mixing bowl, half of the block of cheese, and all of your sin carne. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix and mash all of it together until it becomes one happy family. Move this to an oven safe dish.
Bake you loaded mofongo at 350F for 20 minutes, just so the cheese can get melty and everything can heat up.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro and avocado!
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