Mangú with fried cheese and eggs
Silky mashed green plantains topped with tangy vinegar onions, golden fried cheese and fried eggs, the Dominican plate that people cross town for.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.92 a serving
- 800 calories
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 3 plantains, green
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 oz halloumi, sliced ⅓ inch thick
- 4 large eggs
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Each serving has about 800 calories, 30 g protein, 93 g carbs and 37 g fat, and costs about $3.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut both ends off the plantains, slit the skin and pry it off with your thumbs. Cut each plantain into 4 pieces.
Lengthwise. Lengthwise means cutting along the long side, from stem to tip, which gives long pieces. Crosswise is the other way, straight across the middle, which gives short, round ones.
How you’ll know: Lengthwise halves of a zucchini look like two little canoes; crosswise pieces look like coins.
Dolly’s tip: Green plantains don’t peel like bananas. The lengthwise slit is the trick.the plantains in a medium pot of water with ½ teaspoon salt over medium-high heat until very tender when poked with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Medium-high heatTimer: 17 min 30 sec
While they , heat 1½ teaspoons oil in a large over medium heat.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Cook the onion 3 minutes, add the vinegar and of salt and cook 2 minutes more, until soft and pink.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Tip into a bowl.
Scoop out ½ cup of the cooking water, then the plantains. Mash them in the pot with the butter, the rest of the salt and the cooking water until smooth and creamy.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Dolly’s tip: Mash while they’re hot. Cold plantains turn gluey.Fry the halloumi slices in the dry over medium heat until , about 2 minutes per side. Move them to the plates.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Dolly’s tip: Dominican frying cheese is sold in Latin markets. Halloumi fries the same way.Add the rest of the oil to the , crack in the eggs, cover and cook until the whites are set and the yolks begin to , 3 to 4 minutes.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Spoon the mangú onto the plates, top with the onions and serve with the fried cheese and eggs.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
