Mojete is a simple dish from the peasant cuisine of Buñol. In the skillet, the meats are fried first; using the same oil, tomato and potato are sautéed with a little sweet paprika powder, and crushed garlic is added in a mortar together with the fried liver. Water is poured in, the broth boils for a few minutes, and only then is the flour added, gradually, without stopping stirring, until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth. The final texture depends on the amount of flour: lighter or firmer.
There are two main versions. The liver version includes sausages, bacon, morcilla and pork liver; the cod version replaces the meats with the fish, fried together with the potato and tomato. Guijas flour, or almorta, a legume flour, is also used in some versions; the meats can be served on the side or chopped into the dough.
The name comes from mojar, “to dip” in Spanish: it is a dish to eat by dipping bread into the skillet. It is a field-worker recipe, handed down through generations in the Hoya de Buñol, and is part of the town’s rustic skillet cuisine, alongside gazpacho manchego and olla.
At the patron saint festivals at the end of August, peñas and locals compete in a mojete contest cooked over a wood fire, and the dish usually appears on the festival nights, including the Tomatina night.
Similar almorta-flour dishes exist in La Mancha under other names, such as gachas manchegas; in Buñol and the comarca, the name is mojete.