Mofongo. The word alone sounds like something you yell at another person in the height of passionate anger or passionate lub makin. Either way, I want to use it more often. But in real real life? It’s actually fried mashed plantains with garlic aioli, pork bits and fresh cilantro. And let me let you know…

…this is an easy and cheap dish you can make to impress your friends like I did last weekend (am I right people??)

She’s real easy. Get some hard and long green banana-like plantains (NSFW) – 1 for every 2 people. Peel em and cut in inch or so chunks. Let the chunks sit in a bowl of water while you peel and cut.

Heat a couple inches worth of canola oil in a big pot. When it’s hot and scary, throw in a layer (splatter alert – don’t be a douche and burn your face) and brown on all sides. Do in batches if you must so the oil stays hot and each piece gets their own love.

While this is happening, grind a few peeled garlic cloves, a bunch of salt and a few tablespoons of olive oil with a mortar and pestle. You really want to get one of these if you don’t have one. I got a wooden deal for like, 4 bucks from Sahadis. I’ve seen nice marbly ones at places like Marshalls or Filene’s basement for like, 4.99 so don’t be such a cheap ass. Grind and work it until you have a thin paste. This is garlic aioli, sometimes it also has egg and other yum in it.

ALSO what you’re doing during this time is frying up some bacon. Try to get thick cut bacon so you can cube it. Slowly render some of its love juice out so later you can pour that into your mashers, along with the cooked bacon.

SO, once all the plantain chunks are fried, mash them in a large bowl with your pestle or masher and add the garlic aioli a little at a time, to taste. This shit is strong so beware. Add the bacon and bacon fat and some chicken stock you have warmed on the stove top or in a micro (yeah, and what?), you can make the mash as smooth or as chunky and dry as you need. I prefer smoother and more moist, so I end up using a lot of stock, like, 32 ounces for 6 plantains. Near the end, crumble some store bought pork skins for a nice and unexpected crunch. As you can probably guess, you don’t need to add any salt, what with the bacon, bacon fat, aioli, stock and pork rinds. Done.

You can serve this as a heap on a plate or in little balls, either way, it’s going to be awesome. Make sure to throw a bunch of chopped cilantro on the plate – the fresh green taste is going to be important to the richness of this mofongo.

Enjoy with a nice Coquito or some pernil: