The North American invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1916 was not organized by the tourism industry, but by the Pentagon. Nevertheless, it had a tourist-culinary side effect. It gave the country`s most popular breakfast its name, which is still valid today. The hungry American soldiers were served a porridge made of plantains from the Dominicanos, which according to prevailing opinion is of African origin and cannot deny its relationship to the West African Fufu. The Americans` spontaneous Standard & Poor`s rating resulted in a clear double-triple-O: Man, this is gooooood! or Man, gooooood!, which the locals used to call it the practical Mangú. And it stayed that way.
Mangu plantain puree is usually accompanied by steamed red onion rings, fried salami and fried cheese. As far as I know, the salami and cheese specialties used are not available in Germany. The composition of a breakfast plate can, however, be complemented by the usual side dishes of the North American breakfast, such as egg variations, sausages, ham or bacon, both fried hot and fatty. In this recipe I chose naturally roasted pork ribs, only seasoned with salt and pepper.
Before preparing the Mangu, the red onions are peeled, halved, cut into thin half rings and sprinkled with a small teaspoon of salt. Pour 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar over the onions, mix everything together and set the onions aside for the time being.
Plantains in all stages of ripeness can be used for the preparation of Mangú, i.e. green (Plátanos verdes) as well as yellow and black plantains (Plátanos maduros). Depending on the degree of ripeness, however, the taste of the dish and the cooking time change.
Ripe plantains are already soft after 5-10 minutes and make a very sweet puree. The more ripe, i.e. the blacker the peels, the sweeter. Green plantains, because of their high starch content, have a more similar taste to the usual mashed potatoes, of course without being the same. The cooking time is a good 30 minutes.
Since I prefer a slightly sweet variant, I peeled yellow plantains, cut them into 3 or 4 pieces and cooked them in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes. After the fork test, I lift the plantain pieces out of the cooking water with the slotted spoon and put them in a separate bowl or in the food processor. I add 3 tablespoons of soft butter and 1 teaspoon of salt and mash / puree the plantains until they make a homogeneous puree. If the consistency of the puree is too firm, some cooking water should be added.
Those who use green plantains, which mostly corresponds to the typical Dominican Mangú, will have to have cooking water ready in any case, as the cooked bananas are a little more floury. As with mashed potatoes, the added butter also contributes a lot to the final taste.
Mangú without steamed red onions is unthinkable. After the salt and vinegar brine has been drained off, the onions are steamed in a little oil in the pan, while the pork ribs are crispy fried in a separate pan.
Serving is done on a large plate with a generous batter of mangu on which a spoon or two of onions are heaped. In addition, you decorate the pork ribs (or those breakfast items that everyone personally prefers).
Mangú leftovers can be easily reheated the following morning by adding a little cold water to the puree and stirring it well while heating.
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