Mofongo con Camarones

5 from 10 votes

Mofongo con Camarones or Mofongo de Camarones (Mofongo with Shrimps) is a hyper delicious Puerto Rican dish made with a garlic plantain mash and served with shrimps in a salsa criolla sauce. One of the best dishes you will ever have!

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time1

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings:

Calories: 429kcal

Author: Catherine Arena

Ingredients

For Mofongo

4 green plantains peeled and cut into ½ inch slices
8 garlic cloves peeled
adobo (optional) I use Goya Brand
1 bag chicharrones (pork cracklings) (optional)
olive oil
salt to taste
vegetable oil for frying

Shrimps in Salsa Criolla

1 pound raw large or extra large shrimps peeled and deveined
1 onion thinly sliced and cut into half moons or chopped
1 green pepper thinly sliced and cut into half moons or chopped
1 yellow or red pepper thinly sliced and cut into half moons or chopped
8 ounces crushed tomato sauce
4 ounces tomato sauce
2-4 garlic cloves minced
4 ounces white wine or water
2 dry bay leaves
3 tablespoons Puerto Rican sofrito
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro rinsed and chopped
3 culantro leaves (optional) hard to find in stores so you can leave out
2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon pepper or to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Cut and Prepare Plantains in Season Water

Using a knife, cut the ends of the plantains.
Gently score the plantains lengthwise with the knife and cut through the skin without cutting into the flesh.
Gently pry the skin with your finger tip at one end and running it down the banana to peel skin.
Cut the plantains into ½ inch slices.Place plantain pieces in a bowl with water and add 1 teaspoon of adobo or salt. Let them sit in water while you begin on the criolla sauce.

Shrimps in Salsa Criolla Sauce

Chop all the vegetables and get or other ingredients ready for the salsa criolla.
Peel and devein shrimp. Place in a bowl, cover and put shrimps in refrigerator until ready to use.
Over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil to a large saucepan or caldero.
Add the onions and peppers, stir and cook until onions are translucent.
Add bay leaves, sofrito, culantro (if using), cilantro, garlic, salt and pepper. Stir.
Add the crushed tomato sauce, tomato sauce and the white wine or water to the pot.
Stir.
Cook on medium or medium low for 30 minutes.
Stir every 5 or 10 minutes to make sure sauce is not sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Back to the Plantains

While sauce is cooking, fry the plantain slices.
Begin with draining the plantain pieces in a colander. Let plantain pieces sit in colander and continue draining while you prepare the pan with oil.
In a frying pan, over medium heat, add about one cup of vegetable or canola oil.
When oil is hot, gently add a few plantain pieces at a time.
***Be careful when adding the plantain pieces to the oil as the pieces are still a little wet and can cause oil to splatter.
Fry and cook plantain pieces until golden brown.
With a fork, flip the pieces over and cook on the other side until golden brown as well.
Once plantain pieces are cooked, drain on paper towels.
Continue frying plantain pieces until all pieces are fried.
Note: You do not want the plantain pieces to burn or get too dark in color. You want them to simply cook through.

Mashing and Seasoning the Green Plantains

Add all the peeled garlic cloves to the pilon (mortar and pestle).
Add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Start mashing the garlic with the pestle until you have formed a garlic paste.
Remove garlic paste from pilon.
Note: You will divide this garlic paste equally for each mofongo made. About 2 garlic cloves per mofongo. You can add more or less garlic paste to each mofongo if you like.
Add a few pieces of plantain at a time to the pilón (mortar and pestle).
Start mashing the plantain pieces with the pestle to form almost a stiff mash potato base. (Mash while plantain pieces are still hot)
Add some of the garlic paste to the plantain mash and about a tablespoon of olive oil and mash all together.
Add a few pieces of chicharrones (pork cracklings) and salt to taste, to the plantain mash.
Mash again and mix well.
Note: If needed, add more oil. You do not want the mofongo to be too dry but also not to moist.
Now that the first batch of plantain pieces are mashed and seasoned, remove the mash from the pilón and set aside in a bowl.
Repeat the same procedure with the remaining pieces of plantain until they are all mashed and seasoned.
Note: Depending on the size of the plantain, 1 plantain = one serving, so 4 plantains would make 4 mofongos.
Before continuing, head back to the sauce and add the shrimp to the criolla sauce.
Stir.
Depending on how big the shrimps are, cook for 5-7 minutes in sauce.
Sauce is now done.

Forming the Mofongo (1st Option)

Now that the mofongo is done it is time to form the plantain mash into individual mofongos.
Here you will have several options.
First option:
You can divide the mofongo into 4 equal sections.
Place one section at a time to a small bowl and mash plantain down with a spoon to form half moon spheres.
Flip bowl over onto a plate with the plantain mash in the center of the plate.
Repeat procedure with the other sections of plantain mash onto individual plates for servings.
Top or surround mofongos with the shrimps in salsa criolla.
Note: You can also form the half moon spheres with your hands.

2nd Option

If you have more than one set of pilones (a mortar and pestle), you can serve mofongo right out of each pilón.
To serve mofongo from a pilón, form a half moon inside the pilón pressing down plantain mash with the pestle or spoon.
Using the pestle or spoon form a concave in the center. You will then add the shrimp in salsa criolla to the center.
Note: As described and pictured in the post, another option for serving mofongo in a pilón, is too set mofongo over to one side of the pilón as shown above.
Then fill up the pilón with the shrimps in salsa criolla.
Done!

Notes

Note: Alternative to the shrimp, you can make and top the mofongo with Carne Frita (Fried Pork Chunks) and serve with a garlic mojo sauce on the top or side.

Nutrition