Mofongo with Quorn Cutlets or Vegetables

Living in Puerto Rico on a day-to-day basis can be a culinary challenge if you are a vegetarian. Some of my family members like my father, think that cooking vegetarian means cooking without any flavor. A few years ago as I started to cook vegetarian meals, I decided I wanted to make more Puerto Rican inspired dishes with a vegetarian twist.

Mofongo is usually made by deep frying pieces of plantain, putting them in a large mortar and pistel with a pork rinds, garlic, salt, pepper, and bacon oil or olive oil. You mash the mixture until all pieces are combined.

 Recipe

Since this is VegLatino, I of course decided to make an alternative to frying. I boiled the plantain which some would consider closer to making Domincan Mangu.

Here is my recipe for Mofongo with Quorn Cutlet Veggie Mojo. This recipe is for two people.

Ingredients:

One large White Onion in slices

1 small garlic clove. (Too much garlic in the mofongo might be a bit much so add to your taste)

2 Large plantains

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of Sofrito (homemade is the best because store bought might contain animal by-product.)

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Quorn Cutlets or a bag of mixed of Vegetables. Basically any veggies you have in the refrigerator fresh or frozen.

Olive Oil

1/2 cup of Vegetable stock

Oregano

1 packet of Sazon (any brand w/w/out annatto coloring and free of animal by product)

Mofongo:

Peel the plantains, cut into pieces, and put them to boil in a quart-pot filled water. Add a pinch of sea salt. You will boil these until fork tender.

Once fork tender put them in a mortar, tupperware, or glassbowl. Add salt, pepper, olive oil and the ½ clove of garlic that you will mince. Start mashing the mixture incorporating olive oil and the vegetable stock as the plantain will soak up the liquids quickly. Don’t make this too mushy or it will look more like mashed potatoes. I usually take a measuring cup, fill it with mofongo, as it molds to the cup, flip it on to a plate, and tap it out. You can also buy individual small mortars, mash the mofongo individually, and fill with mojo.

Taste for more sea salt and pepper if needed. Serve with your veggie mojo!

Mojo or Red Sauce

Add olive oil to the pan on medium heat. Add sofrito and cook for about a minute. Add the onion slices and cook those until they become translucent. Add sea salt, pepper, oregano, and sazon packet. Add in the mixed veggies or the Quorn cutlets and sautee. Incorporate the tomato sauce and let it simmer. Check veggies or Quorn cutlets until they are fork tender.

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You can serve the mojo on the side of your mofongo or mold out the mofongo and insert into the mofong0.