Mangú

the Dominican breakfast: green plantains boiled and mashed smooth with their own cooking water, topped with red onions pickled in vinegar

Origin: Santo Domingo & the Dominican Republic

From the journey of Banana.

Mangú is boiled green plantain mashed with a little of its cooking water and a spoonful of oil until it is completely smooth, topped with red onions softened in vinegar. With fried salami, fried cheese, and a fried egg beside it, it becomes los tres golpes, the three hits, and that is the Dominican breakfast in the same way that a fry-up is the British one. The technique is precise despite the simplicity. The plantains are boiled until soft, mashed while genuinely hot, and slackened with the cooking water rather than with milk, and Dominican cooks add a splash of cold water at the end, which firms the mash and stops it going gluey. It should be smooth enough to be spread with a knife and stiff enough to hold a shape. The onions are the other half. Red onion is sliced thin and cooked briefly in vinegar with a little water and salt until it is limp and bright pink, and the whole lot is poured over the mash, vinegar included. The sharpness against the starch is the entire balance of the dish. The etymology usually offered is that an American marine during one of the twentieth-century occupations of the Dominican Republic said man, good, and that this became mangú. The story is repeated everywhere in the country and is folklore: the dish and its name both predate the 1916 occupation, and the likelier source is West African, from a Kikongo or Fang term for a mashed starch, brought with the same people who brought the technique. Similar mashes appear across the region as fufu, mofongo, and foutou.

Ingredients

Mangú

4 green plantains, peeled and cut into thick rounds
1.5 litres water
1.5 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil or butter
100 ml cold water

Onions

2 red onions, thinly sliced
100 ml white vinegar
50 ml water
2 tbsp oil
0.5 tsp salt

To serve

4 eggs, fried, to serve
300 g Dominican salami, thickly sliced and fried
300 g queso de freír or halloumi, fried

Method

Peel the plantains by cutting off the ends, scoring the skin along its length, and prising it off; green plantain skin does not come away like a banana's.
Boil the rounds in the salted water for eighteen to twenty-two minutes, until a knife goes through with no resistance.
Drain, keeping about 300ml of the cooking water.
Mash the plantain immediately while it is very hot, adding the oil and enough of the hot cooking water to bring it to a smooth, thick purée.
Mash it hot and fast. Plantain stiffens as it cools and a mash started cold will stay lumpy no matter how long it is worked.
Now beat in the 100ml of cold water a little at a time.
The cold water at the end is the Dominican trick: it tightens the mash and keeps it from turning gluey, and it is what separates mangú from a plain purée.
Taste for salt and keep it covered and warm.
For the onions, soften the sliced red onion in the oil for three minutes, then add the vinegar, water, and salt.
Cook for three or four minutes more, until the onion is limp and has gone bright pink, and take it off the heat with its liquid.
Fry the salami slices, the cheese, and the eggs.
Spread the mangú on the plates, pour the onions and all their vinegar over the top, and serve with the three fried accompaniments.

Notes

Green plantains only; a yellow one is sweet and gives the wrong dish. Mash while hot, loosen with the cooking water, then beat in cold water at the end. The onions go on with their vinegar, not drained. Los tres golpes means the salami, cheese, and egg, and Dominican salami is a specific soft, mild, deep-red sausage that fries well; a mild frying salami is the nearest substitute. Leftover mangú is shaped into balls and fried the next day.

The Gastrographer

Name: Mangú
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Santo Domingo & the Dominican Republic
Ingredients: 4 green plantains, peeled and cut into thick rounds; 1.5 litres water; 1.5 tsp salt; 3 tbsp olive oil or butter; 100 ml cold water; 2 red onions, thinly sliced; 100 ml white vinegar; 50 ml water; 2 tbsp oil; 0.5 tsp salt; 4 eggs, fried, to serve; 300 g Dominican salami, thickly sliced and fried; 300 g queso de freír or halloumi, fried

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control