Mofongo con Camarones

Ingredients

• 4 large green plantains
• 800ml neutral oil, for frying
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 120g chicharrón (fried pork rind), broken up
• 120ml warm chicken stock
• 500g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
• 3 tbsp sofrito
• 2 garlic cloves, minced, for the prawns
• 1 x 200g tin tomato sauce
• 60ml chicken stock, for the sauce
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 small handful coriander, chopped
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Before you cook

• Cut the ends off the plantains, score the skin along a ridge, and lever the peel off under running water.
• Cut the peeled plantains into 3cm rounds.
• Peel and devein the prawns and pat them dry.
• Break the chicharrón into rough pieces.
• Crush the eight garlic cloves with a teaspoon of salt and the olive oil into a rough paste, ideally in a pilón.

Steps

1. Pour the frying oil into a deep pan to a depth of five centimetres and heat it to 165C.
2. Fry the plantain rounds in two batches for six minutes each, until tender inside and pale gold outside rather than crisp.
3. Lift the plantains onto kitchen paper and season them with a pinch of salt.
4. Turn off the fryer oil and set the pan aside safely.
5. Put a quarter of the hot plantain rounds into a pilón or a sturdy mortar.
6. Add a spoonful of the garlic paste and a small handful of chicharrón.
7. Pound the mixture firmly, twisting the pestle to smear it against the sides, until it forms a coarse, cohesive mass.
8. Splash in a tablespoon of warm chicken stock and pound again until the mash is moist but still textured.
9. Press the mixture into a small bowl to shape a dome and turn it out onto a warm plate.
10. Repeat with the remaining plantains, garlic paste, chicharrón and stock to make four domes.
11. Cover the domes loosely with foil to hold their heat.
12. Set a frying pan over medium-high heat and add two tablespoons of butter.
13. Add the sofrito and the minced garlic and cook for two minutes until fragrant.
14. Stir in the tomato sauce, oregano and cumin, and cook for three minutes until the sauce darkens.
15. Pour in sixty millilitres of chicken stock and bring the sauce to a simmer.
16. Slide in the prawns and cook for four minutes, turning once, until they curl and turn opaque right through.
17. Season the sauce with salt and black pepper to taste.
18. Spoon the prawns and their sauce over and around each mofongo dome.
19. Scatter with chopped coriander and serve with lime wedges.