Reviewed: Feb. 25, 2012

I love, love mangu. My mom is Dominican and she makes great mangu. However, she has always put garlic in it. To mash the plaintains I sautee the garlic in olive oil being careful to not burn the garlic. Then, pour mixture over plaintains and mash. Also, I like peeling the plaintains before boiling them. If I don't peel them then, I DON'T use the water to mash.

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Reviewer:

eunice

Reviewed: Dec. 8, 2011

Make sure your plantains are green. Add salt to the water. The water should be salty but not overpowering. Peel and cut them up big or small depending on how long you want this to take to cook. Put them in the pot and let them boil. For your "escabeche" you can use red or white onions. Slice them up as your plantains are cooking and put in bowl with about a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of white or red vinegar. Stir them up once or twice while the plantains cook. About halfway through boiling, add cold water to the plantains. This is known as "asustando los platanos". It means to frighten the plantains. Why we would want to do such a cruel thing to our lovely platanos is beyond me, but this is how the aunts taught me to make them. Once the platanos are soft, almost like potatoes would be for mashed potatoes (it's the same principle, you're just using plantains) take them out of the water but reserve some on the side. You can mash them with a fork or with a potato masher. Add butter and a little of the water you reserved so they're not too dry. You can also add a little very cold water to them. This will help keep your leftovers soft. The finished consistency should be a little thicker than mashed potatoes. Add oil to a pan, once it's warm take your onions out of your bowl using a slotted spoon.It'll pop some stir those around a bit until midway softened, reduce heat then add the vinegar thats left. Pour onions on your mangu. Que le aproveche!

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Reviewer:

ginjer

Reviewed: Oct. 22, 2011

I used Pam instead of Olive Oil, and after the onions were translucent I added the Anaheim Chilis to soften them. The mixture was way too thick for me to puree it in my tiny food processor so I added triple the amount of water and a cup of unsweetened apple sauce because that's what I had in the pantry. Turned out delicious. The next morning I cooked it into a potato pancake shape - it was sweet, spicy, and really filling (not to mention, healthy)!

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Reviewer:

Lindsey-Lou

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Carlsbad, California, USA

Reviewed: Sep. 28, 2011

I wish the recipe could be altered to include the color of the plantain you should buy - it should be a green plantain because it is most starchy then, and works best in mangu. a yellow plantain is sweet, and you'd probably have to add much spice to alter the sweet taste. Ive never seen the pepper added within the plantain, but theres a first time for everything. Sometimes on top of mangu goes ‘Escabeche’- it is an onion/pepper gravy made with vinegar and oil. In the west indies there is a similar gravy (onion, peppers, pimento seed, ginger) they put on top of fish ans it is called escovitch, it is the same kind of delcious!

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Reviewer:

mxyou6

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Aug. 12, 2011

Traditional breakfast...but never had it with peppers. Add a little of fried cheese, mmmm

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Ruariaja

Reviewed: Feb. 16, 2011

Dominican mangu doesnt have peppers... You're suppose to peel the green plaintains and add salt to the boiling water. We dominicans put butter before we mash them also. The onions taste better if you add a pinch of seasoned salt and a little bit of vinegar before you fry them and use canola oil like another member said.

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Reviewer:

Lissani

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Bronx, New York, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2011

I love mangu, I am dominican and this is something that I introduced to my american wife and now she loves it. However, here is a slight twist to the recipe above: I use canola oil instead of olive oil to sautee the onions, and once they are done I add a tablespoon or two of white vinegar to the oil/onion mixture to add on top of the mangu. The plantains of course have to be as green as possible. Pair it with fried cheese (special type) and eggs...yummm

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15 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

tikertiker2

Reviewed: May 22, 2006

Peppers... I am Dominican and this is the first time I hear of adding pepper to Mangu... I think the rest of the recipe is pretty accurate.

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35 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Mildred López

Reviewed: Aug. 28, 2005

I wasn't too sure about this recipe because it seemed confusing. For example, do I buy the yellow or green plantains and what are Anaheim peppers? I bought the yellow (that was all the store had) and put in a quarter cup of extra spicey habanera sauce. I know it's usually eaten in the morning, but we ate it as a side dish/mashed potato substitute and it was great.

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6 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

irene

Reviewed: Nov. 12, 2004

My husband who doesn't care for fried plantains loved this and so did I, although I made it without the pepper as I did not have one. Is the pepper put in raw?

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4 users found this review helpful