I think we should get a slogan, and if we do I have just the perfect one: Keeping spouses happy since 2001!
Some of our favorite comments and emails from our readers tell us how proud they were to surprise their spouse with some delicious Dominican food. It’s not only wives, but husbands, too. It really does make us proud. And if you read the comments on the Spanish version of this recipe you will notice that there was a lot of “Oh, I will surprise my husband/wife with this!”.
The shortest way to our better half’s heart still seems to be good food. Cooking is all about sharing our love, we enjoy watching our family enjoy the food we cook as much as we love eating it ourselves. And if we’re lucky we might hit the ultimate jackpot: to impress the mother-in-law.
So, in these days that we will be having family coming and going, how about trying this quick and delicious dish and see if you can impress your spouse, and who knows, even gain a word of approval from your mother-in-law?
We sure love reading about those stories, so do share.
Based on the popular mofongo, this cute and easy avocado and shrimp mofonguito cups are sure to raise the flavor to the next level at your gathering.
Ingredients
- 4 unripe bananas (or plantains)
- 20 jumbo shrimps, peeled
- 1 large avocado
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 cup oil for frying
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200 F.
- Peel the bananas (or plantains).
- Cut into 6 slices each banana or 7 slices each plantain.
- Heat oil for frying over medium temperature.
- Fry each slice until they are golden brown all over.
- Squeeze the slices using a lemon squeezer forming small cups.
- Once all the cups are formed, fry them again over medium heat until all the light parts have turned golden brown.
- Turn off the oven and leave the cups in the oven while you proceed to the next step.
- Heat the olive oil over very low heat.
- Add the garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Do not let the garlic burn.
- Add the shrimps and cook until they are pink throughout. Remove from the heat and reserve.
- Remove the avocado from the peel.
- Crush using a fork until it doesn't have any lumps.
- Mix in the lime juice.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble the cups by adding a tablespoon of avocado mix into the cups.
- Top each with a shrimp and garnish with cilantro leaves.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
I must clarify that I did not come up with the idea of these little cups, in fact I have tried it in several restaurants, usually filled with crab meat, and at least on one occasion with avocado and onions, this particular combination, however, is of my own making.
For this recipe you can use either unripe bananas or plantains. Plantains would be the more traditional choice (they are easier to work with and yield better-looking cups), but my experiment using green bananas turned surprisingly delicious, the taste and texture are pretty different than if using plantains. The picture above is of the bananas version.
If you do use plantains, skip step 8, as plantains get dry and hard too easily.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican and Dominican-inspired recipes, home ideas, crafts, and the chronicles of Aunt Clara and Aunt Ilana's adventures.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks absolutely delicious. I have to find out where I can get platanos here. Thanks for sharing.
My husband will surely give me a wonderful Christmas present after I prepare this dish for him. I swear, I am not kidding! He adores shrimps a little less than he loves me ( and I tell you that is a lot! insert proud wife grin!LOL!)
Anyway, I love the way you presented the dish and the flavors are just awesome. How unfortunate that I wont be able to take a bite. Hypersensitivity to shrimps…sigh. Thanks for the post! You rock!
Very creative! And I just bought green plantains the other day but I let them ripen on me. Saving this for next time
What a superb idea! I love the plantain cups! It must surely be so delicious!
try looking for Plantanos and other things like yucca, cilantro, fresh coconut at your local aisan market, good prices and lots of tropical produce.
What a great dish! Especially because the avocado makes the plaintain cup more palatable, since they do get hard. I actually have a little contraption that makes these cups, brought to me by my "hijo postiso" from Equador.
Hi i was wondering where do I get the shrimp cups ? I cannot find them anywhere
You need shrimps, the cups are made of plantains. Please read the recipe.
We love Dominican food. It's very delicious.
This blog is amazing! I mean I'm dominican and the food here looks better than I've ever seen it! Great combinations too.
These look good
Just made this recipe OMG It was Delicious, LOVE LOVE THE TASTE!!!
I did add lil pieces of tomatoes and cilantro and lime.
Cool, I am glad to hear that.
Hello Clara. I want to make something like this for my family but we do not eat sea food. What can I substitute the shrimp with? Salchichon? Queso frito? What do you think? Thanx!
How about you top it with crispy bacon?
Sounds yummy. I will try that. Thank you so much for replying!
Hello, I would like to make those for a party (because they look incredibly delicious), but I might be short of time. Is there anyway I coud prepare the plantain cups in advance? If I fry them and leave them in the fridge, and then warm them in the oven right before serving will it ruin them? I’m new at cooking with plantains…
Unfortunately, no. Plantains get dry AND soggy real fast after cooked, depending on the weather from a few minutes to an hour.
Thanks for answering. That’s what I thought indeed… I did try to make them for another dinner, but the plantain cups would not hold very well. But then again I think they were African plantains (imported here in Europe), so the texture might be different. And everyone found it delicious anyways, even if it didn’t quite look as pretty!