Mojo verde and its sister mojo rojo come from the Canary Islands and they are both commonly served with Papas Arrugadas, potatoes cooked in sea water that evaporates leaving a salty crust on the wrinkled potatoes. More of that later.
Mojo verde/rojo
If, like me, you love coriander and chilli, you will love these two sauces. They are simple and suit grilled fish and shell fish, particularly squid or cuttlefish, can go with grilled meats and eggs.
Mojo Verde
Coriander and fresh chilli are the key ingredients in this fresh and simple sauce.
Finely chop a whole bunch of coriander, including stalks.
De-seed and finely chop eight green chillies or more if you like.
Crush two cloves of garlic with salt.
Toast a teaspoon of cumin and crush.
Mix all together with some salt, olive oil and sherry vinegar to taste.
Mojo Rojo
Possibly even easier than than mojo verde. Simply crush some chilli flakes or dried chilli in a pestle and mortar, For every two tablespoons of chilli flakes add a teaspoon of toasted cumin seeds. When these are crushed as finely as you can, add two clove of garlic and a little salt and crush to a paste. Add carefully some sweet smoked pimenton. Please be judicious, smoked paprika is a wonderful seasoning, but can easily overwhelm, so add a little at a time. Finally some olive oil and sherry vinegar to taste.
Papas Arrugadas
A traditional Canary Island recipe of small potatoes cooked in seawater that is allowed to evaporate leaving crinkly, salt crusted potatoes. Served with the two mojos makes a lovely evening snack, watching the sun go down over the ocean, with a cold lager. Still good on a wind racked night in old blighty.
The potatoes, stupid. Jersey Royals are good. The other variety I like are Violetta, the black skin shows off the salt crust and they have a good taste.
The methodology is to recreate seawater. I use a 5 % solution, which is actually more than the Dead Sea but I like salt. Put your potatoes in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. They must be only one layer. Add water to halfway up the potato. Then pour the water into a container and weigh the water. Then get your calculator and multiply the weight by 0.05 for five percent salinity. That is the amount in grams of sea salt you will add to the water. Dissolve the salt in the water by heating and then add the potatoes. Bring to the boil and cover. When the water is almost evaporated turn the flame down, use your diffuser and cook until dry, mindful not to burn the precious potatoes. When totally evaporated remove the lid and as the steam flies away the crust emerges. Satisfaction. Eat, Drink and Start again.
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