Canary mojo picón

How to prepare canarian mojo picón .

I do not know if you know many canaries, I am lucky to have several of them among my friends.

I love their way of being, that identity of the Canarian people that resides in their culture and mix of traditions. People here and there, and their way of seeing life.

Furthermore, one of its strengths is cooking, with a very simple gastronomy. Although this does not detract from a great variety of recipes, products and dishes with many ingredients that we did not manage to produce in the peninsula due to the difference in climate.

They have very famous and common recipes but with variations depending on the island you are on. Above all, the contributions and cultural influence of the Guanches, travelers from other countries, returned migrants (there are many around the world), Venezuelan cuisine and the unknown African cuisine are noted. We will find from the rabbit in salmorejo to the octopus to the Canarian , recipes with spicy touches that I love.

I want to contribute my grain of sand with a recipe from my friend Laura from one of her most famous sauce recipes : the canarian mojo picón . Not only is it perfect for your wrinkled or wrinkled potatoes , but also great for meat, fish or vegetable barbecues.

A sauce that you have to prepare yes or yes in quantity, follow my advice, as it is very useful for any meal and you can keep it in the fridge for a while and in the freezer for up to three months.

There is a type mojo or molho , which they call the authentic mojo picón , although the variations are endless and to the taste of the staff. The one I like the most is the one that itches, with its pepper or picona (a type of small pepper), garlic, salt, a good paprika, cumin and extra virgin olive oil.

I leave you with my recipe for mojo palmero, red mojo, red mojo or mojo picó n, I hope you like it.

Preparation of the mojo picón

We have two standard recipes, one with and one without mortar.

1. If you want to prepare the mojo as such as they do in the Canary Islands, you must give it to the mortar.
2. To do this, mash the peeled and chopped garlic, the cumin if it is in grain, the peppers or pitons clean of seeds and the coarse salt, we give it vigorously until they form a smooth and homogeneous paste.
3. Once we have the pasta, we add the paprika and very slowly the extra virgin olive oil and the vinegar until there is a thick paste.
4. If it is too thick we can lighten it with a little water.
5. If we prepare it with the mixer (it is only a venial sin and it is faster) we will put everything in a bowl and crush until there is a paste similar to a light puree.

Here you have a different version, based on mojo picón but bread, to give it consistency, it is more sauce than mojo.

Another version of the mojo picón

1. Depending on what you are going to use the sauce we can change it to taste. I love it with a bit of fried bread, which gives it a different touch, its texture is less homogeneous but just as rich.
2. To do this we cut into slices and then dice a piece of bread (with 3 slices of bread for these measures it arrives) and in a frying pan with a little extra virgin olive oil we toss the bread into small pieces until golden brown. We remove the bread and put it with the garlic.
3. In a bowl (I use the one in the blender) add the leftover aove from frying the fried bread.
4. We also add the cumin (better ground), the paprika and the salt. We introduce a little water and beat everything until there is a paste like puree.
5. Add the extra virgin olive oil, the grape vinegar and the two piconas or Canarian peppers (they usually sell them in large areas, but if you can’t find them you can use cayenne) to the previous container.
6. We pass everything through the mixer. We try the mojo and grind it normally with salt. And that’s it!

One of the best sauces I know. This mojo is not only good for potatoes, you can accompany a good barbecue or barbecue, as well as some fish or even vegetables.

Vicky’s Mojo Picón (Gran Canaria Island)

• Ingredients: 3 garlic cloves; ½ teaspoon of cumin coffee; A little tip of picona red pepper (pepper of the puta madre, they call it so here); ½ teaspoon of sweet paprika; 200 ml of olive oil; 25 ml of white wine vinegar; Salt to taste.
• Put the pepper to soak in warm water. Crush the garlic, cumin, red pepper, paprika and salt in a mortar until everything is made into a more or less fine paste.
• We put this paste in the glass of a blender and add the oil little by little while we beat until it emulsifies. Add the vinegar and beat a little more.

Mojo picón by Doña Elena

• Ingredients mojo doña Elena : 3 dl aove; 1.5 dl vinegar white wine; 6 garlic cloves; 3 tablespoons sweet paprika dessert; 3 tablespoons hot paprika dessert; 6 tablespoons of cumin grain or 4 ground; 2-3 cayenne or Canarian pepper; Bread; 3 dl water and salt.
• I have been told on twitter about this recipe very similar to the one I prepare, although I usually add a bell pepper that does not bite to balance and the fried bread. In my next preparation I will surely try your recipe, I warn that I have not yet prepared it and on the subject of ingredients you have to try it yourself.
• You can crush with mortar or use the Thermomix. In that case I advise you to put a bowl with the water, the bread and the cayenne a while before. And then everything inside, except the oil, remove you can emulsified little by little. It improves with days / months in the fridge.
• The amounts are indicative. Play with the bread to give the texture you want, even the vinegars (a shot of sherry, for example). The paprika is essential. I use Ruiseñor, Murcia’s sun-dried brand that is spectacular.

Tomato red mojo – Laura de Sano and yummy recipe :

• Ingredients for 350 cl: 4 whole peeled tomatoes; 75 cl of olive oil; apple cider vinegar (or white wine). The amount of vinegar depends a lot on the palate of each one. Some people add a lot of vinegar and from my point of view acidifies it too much.
• I put 25 cl or something less maybe; 2 ñoras (remove all the seeds); 2 peppers “of the puta madre” (that is, a type of chili that we have in the Islands). You can imagine why they are called that, right? Empty them well from the seeds; 1 teaspoon of cumin grains; coarse salt (to taste); 3 thick garlic cloves and paprika (sweet or spicy depending on taste).
• From the Canary Islands, Laura has sent me how she prepares her recipe, she tells me:
• You have hit the nail on the head that in every house you have a recipe or way of making mojo, because it is just like that. I have many recipes and, in fact, I make a variation of the one my mother makes. And my uncle has another one to lick his fingers… Sometimes I even do it with a mortar; sometimes, in a blender, depending on one texture or another.
• As you will see, for me the red mojo par excellence is with tomato and raw garlic; but, if you put fried garlic on it, you make the palm red mojo. You’re going to suck your fingers!
• I leave you with his post, do not stop reading it because it is very complete and also tells us how to make green mojo, I have not tried this but it will fall for sure one of these days. For his preparation he tells us. We put all the raw ingredients in the glass of the normal mixer or, in my case, of the American glass and beat until it is fully emulsified.

Mojo picón from grandmother Angela (from Sonia Izquierdo)

• If you have the opportunity to get the real peppers we make them there, you will see the change. No bell peppers, not even paprika.
• Listen to me my aunt and Maria and her sister my grandmother Angela were famous for their recipes in the Acentejo area. In the Canary Islands we have some very delicious dishes. Now that we’ve been to parties, “La asadura” is typical ( Aunt Maria was the queen hehe).
• I do not know if you know that the northern part of the island of Tenerife , my island, and La Palma had a huge Portuguese population (my ancestors in part), because somehow apart from a lot of words.
• Seeing your blog I have noticed the similarity of some dishes to the cuisine of my land.
• Our stew or stew is tremendously similar and there is a stew from your grandmother with veal and potatoes that is identical to how we have always prepared at home the dish known in Tenerife as ” meat with potatoes ” (you see how we get complicated).

From Facebook they tell me

• M Cristo Tejera: There are various types of Mojos, but there are as many as houses in the Canary Islands, since each one gives it its touch. My favorite is the mojo palm that my mother makes with almond sauce. Thanks for sharing new recipes.
• Yessica Jesús: Hello, here in Gran Canarias different types are made and one of them is with a good tomato if it is roasted better but also raw it serves, a good piece of red pepper, cumin, paprika, salt, a drop of vinegar, oil of sunflower , a garlic, if you want you add the pepper of (the mother’s bitch) it is called that, but so that this is more edible I do not put it and if you want to thicken it a little, then almonds or sponge cake.
• Rosalía Vilches: Mojo of almonds, cheese, avocado, potatoes, roast … A mogollón and all very good.