Mojo is a popular Cuban sauce that is most often used as a marinade for pork or a condiment with starchy tubers like cassava (yuca). The recipe for mojo can vary from region to town to family but the foundational components are garlic, oregano and a fat, which historically was lard but nowadays is olive oil, and Seville orange juice. Seville oranges, also called bitter oranges, offer an extremely tart, acidic juice that is particularly good accompanying fatty meat or as a tenderizing marinade and braising liquid for tougher meat, like goat. We like to add a little bit of habañero pepper to our mojo for a sauce that is a spicy, tart and herbaceous.
MAKES: about 3 cups (720 ml)
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 5 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 shallots, minced
- 10 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup (30 g) chopped fresh oregano
- ½ cup (30 g) chopped fresh culantro or cilantro
- ¼ habañero pepper, stemmed and seeded
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp (12 g) salt
- 1 cup (240 ml) olive oil, divided
- 1½ cups (360 ml) Seville orange juice
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Place the shallots, garlic, oregano, culantro, habañero pepper, coriander, cumin and salt in a food processor, add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the olive oil and process to create a thick, smooth paste. Add more oil if necessary to create the paste.
- Add the Seville orange juice and continue to process.
- Slowly drizzle in the remaining olive oil while processing until you get a thick, frothy sauce. Serve as a condiment or use as a marinade for meat. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Use for
braising goat, stewing beef or brushed on a barbecued pork shoulder.
