Mofongo with Vegan Steak & Mushroom Sauce

Learn how to make a classic Mofongo, a tasty dish of mashed plantains with lots of garlic, topped with Vegan Steak and Mushroom Sauce.

Vegan | Soy-free

When I tell you that I’ve been dying to make this recipe, I really mean it. As soon as Beyond released their steak, I’ve been fingers-crossing every day that it would eventually make its way to Puerto Rico. Finally, I got my hands on it and knew exactly what I wanted to do: Mofongo with Vegan Steak and Mushroom Sauce.

In the Caribbean, plantains are a kitchen staple, and Puerto Rico’s main plantain dish is the mouthwatering mofongo. It goes well on its own with a little bit of caldo de vegetales, or with a variety of proteins and sauces. And which sides would go better with it than some vegan steak and a classic mushroom sauce? A dish that is so delicious that you can now enjoy it at home because, quite literally, no restaurant has this on their menu. Let’s get started! 

The making of: Mofongo with Vegan Steak & Mushroom Sauce

Mofongo is one of the Puerto Rican delicacies made from fried green plantains (not ripe-yellow), to which crushed garlic and bits of pork rinds are added. For this vegan version, we’ll skip the pork rinds (obvs!). Once fried, it’s mashed in a pilón, or wooden mortar, to form a half dome shape, that’s whole to be topped later or hollow to be stuffed. I’m a simple girl, so my favorite mofongo is often the one that comes on its own with veggie broth, but for the blog, I really couldn’t pass up the opportunity to bring one of my favorite past dishes to my #VeganizedPuertoRican series.

This recipe has 3 parts: the mofongo, the vegan steak, and the sauce. All of which can feel a little laborious or daunting at first, but once you get the mushroom sauce out of the way, everything else comes together easily. My recommendation is to follow the order of this recipe: first sauce, then steak, and lastly mofongo. Why? Because mofongo has to be eaten immediately after cooking it, otherwise 15-20 minutes later you’ll have a cold and hard mofongo with no way of salvaging it.

To make the mushroom sauce, saute onion, garlic, and mushrooms in red wine. Season with vegan Worcestershire sauce, then add coconut milk thickened with cornstarch. Then make the steak by browning whole cloves of garlic along with rosemary and thyme sprigs in vegan butter. Add Beyond Steak pieces and cook according to instructions. Finally, fry plantain rounds until golden brown; add to a wooden mortar and pestle along with garlic cloves, vegan butter, salt, pepper, and garlic paste if desired. Mash everything together until no whole pieces of plantains remain.

When ready, serve the mofongo in the middle of a plate, top with the steak, and follow with the sauce. ENJOY!

Mofongo Variations:

• Mofongo de Pana (Breadfruit Mofongo)
• Mofongo de Yuca (Cassava Mofongo)
• Mofongo de Malanga y Yautía (Taro and Eddoe Mofongo)
• Bifongo made with both green and ripe-yellow plantains
• Trifongo made with yuca, green plantain, and ripe-yellow plantain

Notes:

• This recipe is NOT sponsored (I truly wish!).
• For the steak, I’m using the Beyond Steak, but I believe that seitan steak would work as well.
• Leftovers? The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, as well as the steak. Unfortunately, the mofongo can’t be stored and reheated later.
• To replicate the crunchy chicharrón texture, you could use cooked seitan bacon cut into small pieces.
• If you don’t have a wooden pilón/mortar and pestle, you could also use a bowl, a potato masher and later shape it with your hands. You could also use a marble mortar and pestle.

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Mofongo with Vegan Steak & Mushroom Sauce

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Serves: 2 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes 40 minutes Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

Mushroom Sauce:

• 3 tbsp vegan butter
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 8 ounces portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup red wine or red cooking wine
• ½ cup vegetable broth
• ¾ cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Optional: handful of fresh thyme

Vegan Steak:

• 2-4 cloves of garlic, whole
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1 10oz bag of Beyond Steak

Mofongo:

• 4 large green plantains
• 2-4 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp of butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Optional: parsley flakes
• Oil for frying

Procedure

Mushroom Sauce:

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic and diced onions, and saute until soft.
2. Stir in the mushrooms and season lightly with salt and pepper to draw their moisture out for about 5-6 minutes.
3. Stir in wine, vegetable broth, Dijon mustard, and vegan Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, then quickly reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-8 minutes until liquid is reduced.
4. Whisk coconut milk and cornstarch until completely dissolved, then add it to the mushrooms. Stir periodically until the sauce becomes thick and creamy.
5. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. When done, remove from heat and set aside. 

Vegan Steak:

1. Heat up the vegan butter in a pan to medium heat, and add whole cloves of garlic, along with the rosemary and thyme sprigs. Once the butter is bubbly reduce heat, to allow to garlic to cook through for about 10 minutes; turning the sprigs occasionally. 
2. When the garlic becomes soft and golden, remove the herbs and add the Beyond Steak pieces. Add Beyond Steak pieces and cook according to instructions; add more butter if needed. 
3. When done, remove from heat and set aside. 

Mofongo:

1. Peel the plantains, cut them into 1 1/2-inch thick slices, soak them in salted water for 15 minutes, drain, and dry them before adding them to the hot pan with oil. This recipe calculates 2 plantains per mofongo, so I recommend frying the slices pertaining to each mofongo separately. 
2. Fry for about 12 minutes over medium-low heat or until light golden brown. Be sure to turn them halfway through frying, don't brown them too much so that they are easy to mash. You can check for doneness by poking them with a fork.
3. While you’re waiting for the plantains to cook, add 2 cloves of garlic to the wooden pilón/mortar, and mash with a pestle until cloves are disintegrated. Then add butter, salt, pepper, and parsley.
4. When ready, remove the plantains from the oil, place them in the wooden pilón/mortar, and mash with pestle until no whole pieces of plantains are left. Adjust seasoning and butter if needed and mash until fully compacted into a half-dome shape. 
5. Carefully remove the mofongo by flipping the wooden pilón/mortar over a plate. Use the pestle to create a small indentation in the middle for the steak and mushrooms to sit.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 for the second mofongo.
7. Serve immediately after mashing, top with hot with the steak and mushroom sauce. ENJOY!

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