One of the great joys of living in
Puerto Rico is the
cuisine. The word
mondongo must mean something like
tripe, but there is also the word
tripa with the same meaning. Puerto Ricans have told me that the word is of African origin. It is a kind of
stew made with
tripe and I thought the exclusive property of Puerto Rico. While looking for
information on the
web, I found that the
stew can be found all over the
New World where either
Spanish or
Portuguese is spoken.
Puerto Rican Mondongo has all the
flavors of the island blended into one pot. I can't tell you how to
cook it, but I can pretty much guess what's in it:
- honeycomb tripe cut into small pieces
- achiote oil = small red seeds ( = Eng. annato) fried in lard to give the oil a red/orange color; the Indians on the the Island used to use it to color their skins; nowadays the seeds are fried in plenty of oil to lend color and then thrown out
- recaito = a concoction of seasonings where ajo (= Eng. garlic), cilantro (= Eng. coriander leaves), green pepper and olive oil figure prominently
- yautia (= Eng. taro, a kind of root)
- yuca (= Eng. cassava, another root)
- calabaza (= Eng. West Indian pumpkin)
- plátanos (= Eng. plantains), green
- alcaparrado (=Eng. capers, I think)
- smoked ham