Pork Mofongo

Pork Mofongo
4.3 from 8 ratings
This dish is a staple in Puerto Rican cuisine. It is a hearty meal composed of green plantains and pork. Full of flavor and fairly simple to make, it can easily be added to one of your list of weekday dinners for the family. Mofongo can be stuffed with nearly anything, but for this recipe we will use slow-roasted pork shoulder. — Recipe by Nicole Ortiz, Crave Food Truck, Holyoke, MAThis recipe is part of The Treehouse Foundation's Stir Up Some Love campaign, a partnership that supports foster care families as well as restaurants impacted by the pandemic. Read more about it here.
Servings
4
servings
Puerto Rican Pork Mofongo recipe from Crave Food Truck
Ingredients
  • 1 (4- to 6-pound) pork shoulder
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 2 packets of sazon*
  • 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and minced
  • 3 tablespoon adobo*
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 tablespoon cracked black pepper
  • 2 cup reserved juice from cooked pork
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
  • salt, to taste
  • 2 quarts canola oil
  • 6 green plantains, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon salt, divided
  • 1 cup chicharrones
Directions
  1. Prepare a large roasting pan and set oven to 200F.
  2. To season the pork shoulder, cut 1/2-inch cross marks throughout the pork. Pour 1/2 cup vinegar over the top of the pork, then add the 2 packets of Sazon, minced head of garlic, 3 tablespoons adobo, 1 tablespoon dried oregano and 1/2 tablespoon cracked black pepper. Rub in all of the seasonings, and make sure to get it all into the created indents as well.
  3. Cover with tin foil, and roast in the oven for 8 to 10 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone. Remove from oven.
  4. Once the meat cool enough to handle, pull the meat so that it is shredded. Remove and discard the bones and fat. Reserve the meat and juice.
  5. Add all the mojo ingredients to a food processor. Process until fully combined.
  6. In a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan add the canola oil; set at medium-high heat.
  7. Once oil is hot enough to fry, add the plantains. Once they are cooked and golden brown on all sides, remove from oil.
  8. In a pilon (mortar and pestle), add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic and a pinch of salt and mash together. Add a quarter of the fried plantains and 1/4 cup chicharrones. Mash the mixture until it all comes together. If it seems to dry, add more oil.
  9. Use the pestle to make in indent in the middle of the mixture and fill with 5 ounces of pork.
  10. Take a small rubber spatula and pry the mofongo from the sides of the pilon.
  11. Flip pilon upside down onto a plate. Hit the sides and bottom of the pilon a few times with the pestle, to make sure it will easily come out. Lift and removed pilon.
  12. Pour 1/4 cup of mojo mix over the top of the Mofongo and serve.
  13. Repeat steps 3 through 8 with remaining ingredients.