Mojo Garlic Restaurant Sauce Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium. Stir in garlic, cumin, and oregano, then immediately remove from heat. Let cool 10-15 minutes. Stir in chile, lime juice, orange juice, and salt.
• Do Ahead
• Sauce can be made 1 week ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and chill.

Steps:

• Place garlic, salt, oregano, (optional cumin, black pepper and Adobo seasoning) into a wooden mortar & pestle and make into almost a paste, set aside.
• Combine in a separate bowl; lime juice (or sour orange juice), vinegar, set aside.
• In a frying pan add the olive oil and add the garlic paste, stir and cook briefly (1/2-1 minute).
• Next add the liquid ingredients, stir and cook briefly (1 minute), then remove (do not overcook) and let cool.
• NOTES:.
• This recipe is basically a Dominican/Cuban sauce and adopted from the Mambi Restaurants in New York City.
• This Mojo Sauce recipe will turn a bright "off color" green due to the fresh garlic in the recipe.
• You can make a variation of this recipe by adding mayonnaise to taste, however, it is not a traditional ingredient in Cubano Sandwiches. Also, adding butter is an optional ingredient --
• Mojo Sauce is great on a Cubano Sandwich: Cuban bread (substitute Italian/French Bread) with sliced fresh pork, sliced pink ham, white cheese, sour pickle, butter and Mojo Sauce. Heat/pressing the sandwich on a hot grill is preferred... however, Cubano sandwiches are also good cold. Further, I often substitute chicken for the white fresh pork....
• In Cuba,Mojo Sauce is traditionally made with the fresh juice from sour oranges.
• Mojo Sauce is also good on Yuka (Cassava) or Green Plantains as well.
• The Puerto Rican Mojo Sauce is white in color and with less spices used.

Steps:

• For the mojo: Finely mince or use a rasp grater to grate the garlic into a small bowl or the base of a mortar and pestle. Add the salt and pepper and use a fork or the pestle to mash into a paste. Strip the oregano and cilantro leaves off the stems and add them to the bowl, mashing them into the paste. Whisk in the sour orange juice or equal parts lime and orange juice and the olive oil. Taste and add additional salt if desired. Set aside while you prepare the tostones.
• For the tostones: Heat 3 inches of vegetable oil in a medium heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven until it reaches 325 degrees F on a deep-fry thermometer.
• While the oil heats, peel the plantains and cut on the bias into 2-inch-thick pieces.
• Fry the plantains in batches until crisp and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper-towel-lined baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining plantains.
• Move the pot the off the heat (do not discard the oil).
• Line a cutting board with parchment paper and gather a flat-bottomed glass and small bowl of water. Place a fried plantain on the parchment paper, dip the bottom of the glass in the water and use it to smash the plantain to about 1/2-inch thick. Repeat with the rest of the plantains.
• Put the oil on the heat again and bring it back up to 325 degrees F. Fry the smashed plantains in batches until golden and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels, season with salt and serve hot with the garlic mojo dipping sauce.