Puerto Rican Night: Rice & Beans and Mofongo

After a trip to Puerto Rico this past March we've been wanting to attempt Puerto Rican cuisine at 51 Porter. While rice and beans paired with plantain mofongo will never taste as good when not being enjoyed on a tropical island, this plate satisfied my craving until another trip is in the forecast!

Mofongo!

Ingredients:

~2-3 Hard, Green Plantains

~1 cup broth (we used vegetable)

~1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

4-6 Garlic Cloves Crushed

Directions:

1.   Peel and cut plantains into 1/2 inch slices. Soak in cool water for 10-15 minutes. Remove from water and pat dry with a towel. 

Yes, that is Bud Light Lime in the background.

2.   Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the plantain slices and fry until they turn golden yellow and are slightly charred. 

3.  Mash the fried plantains with a potato masher or in a food processor. Add about 1/2 cup of the broth to get the right consistency, which should be as thick as mashed potatoes, but much stickier. 

4.  Use the leftover oil in the skillet to heat the garlic. Add this garlic to the mofongo and stir to mix in. 

5.   Serve with a dribble of the broth over the top! 

Rice & Beans

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. Sofrito Tomato Sauce. You can buy this pre-made, but we realized it had MSG in it after our purchase, so if you really want to do it right, you should probably make it from scratch...possibly a future blog post here. 

1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste

~1 Tbsp Cilantro (our grocery store was out of the fresh stuff so we added dried...definitely do fresh if you can!)

Long Grain Brown Rice

1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1 Can Pinto Beans

Optional - 1 Potato, chopped into cubes

Not Optional - Bud Light Lime to drink while cooking this.

Directions:

1.   In a sauce pan heat the sofrito and tomato paste. Add the pepper and potato (if you use it). Heat while stirring for a few minutes. 

2.   Drain the can of beans and add to the pot, along with the cilantro. 

3.  Finally, add  some water, use about 1 1/2 cups of water for every cup of rice you're going to add. Wait for the water to come to a boil then add in your rice. Mix all the ingredients until evenly distributed. 

4.   Bring the water back up to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce the heat and let the rice and bean mixture simmer until all of the water is soaked up. This will take anywhere from 20-40 minutes, depending on what kind of rice you use. Don't stir while this is happening, just let it do its thing. When all the liquid is soaked up and the rice is soft, serve!

Serving: We recommend that you mix the mofongo and the rice and beans when you eat them for the best flavor, texture combination. You know what to drink on the side (if not a pina colada made by Adee), we even made glasses to commemorate the refreshment: