Mangú

Mangú
Alternative names	Mazamorra (squash version)
Course	Breakfast, main course or side dish
Place of origin	Dominican Republic
Associated national cuisine	Dominican Republic cuisine
Serving temperature	Hot
Main ingredients	Green plantains, red onion, vinegar
Ingredients generally used	Queso frito, fried eggs, fried
Variations	Mofongo, Fufu, Tacacho, Cayeye
	Cookbook: Mangú;

Mangú is the Dominican Republic's national breakfast.^[1] This traditional Dominican dish can also be served for lunch or dinner.

Method[]

Mangú is made up of boiled green plantains with or without peel on. When cooked through and soft the peel is removed. Plantains are then mashed with a fork and some water in which they were boiled in. The goal is to mash plantains until smooth with some to no lumps. The dish is topped with sautéed red onions that have been cooked with vinegar and oil.

Variations[]

Los tres golpes (the three hits) is the slang name given by Dominicans consisting of fried Dominican-style salami, fried cheese, and fried eggs served alongside mangú. The salami and cheese can be coated in flour before frying for a more crispy texture.

Green plantains can be replaced with ripe-plantains, green bananas, or squash. The squash version is known as mazamorra.

It is not traditional but butter or oil can be added during the mashing process for flavor and texture.

Etymology[]

Boiled mashed plantains can be traced back to Africans in the Congo region who were brought to the island during the slave trade. The original word was something akin to "mangusi" and referred to almost any root vegetable that was boiled and mashed.^[2]

Origin[]

Fu-fu is a dish brought over by African slaves into the Caribbean and parts of Latin America. Before cassava was introduced plantains, green bananas, and yams where boiled and mashed with milk, butter and the water it was boiled in.

Today this dish goes by mangú in the Dominican Republic, fu-fu de platanó in Cuba and Panama, angú in Costa Rica, hudut in Belize, bolón in Ecuador, mofongo in Puerto Rico, cayeye and cabeza de gato in Colombia.

Folklore and apocryphal[]

A popular folk tale exists, in which this dish was served to American soldiers during the American occupation of the country in the early 20th century, and that one of the dining soldiers exclaimed, “Man, good!” ^[3] But there is no contemporary evidence of an American origin for the word.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

^ Torres, A. (2006). Latinos in New England (in Spanish). Temple University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-59213-418-2. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
^ Mangú origin
^ Gonzalez, Clara. "Why are mashed green plantains called "mangú"?". Dominican Cooking.