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Papua New GuineaFlavors · the Dominican Republic
Mashed boiled green plantain mixed with butter or oil, topped with red onion in vinegar. It is the Dominican breakfast par excellence, often served with the tres golpes: fried cheese, salami and fried egg.
Traditional dish from the Dominican Republic
Also known as: Mangú con los tres golpes, mangú de plátano
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Mangú — the Dominican Republic
Mangú is the breakfast that most identifies Dominicans. The green plantain is peeled, boiled in salted water until soft and mashed with butter or oil, gradually adding the water it cooked in until it becomes a smooth puree. On top goes red onion sautéed in vinegar, which gives acidity and color.
Mangú preserves an African heritage adapted to Dominican cooking and is one of the central breakfast dishes. The plantain arrived in the Antilles in the 16th century and, according to historian Frank Moya Pons, became part of the enslaved people’s diet on the plantations alongside meat and cassava flatbread (casabe), eventually becoming a central ingredient in the country’s cuisine.
The most requested version is mangú con los tres golpes: the puree served with fried white cheese, fried Dominican salami and a fried egg. Some add avocado. Mangú also appears at lunch and dinner, and there are versions made with other tubers, like yautía.
About the name, a popular story says it came from an American soldier who, tasting the puree during the occupation, said “man, it’s good.” It’s a folk tale without proof of the name’s origin.
the Dominican Republic
National breakfast, of African heritage, according to the Office of the Presidency.
Green plantain, salt, butter or oil, red onion, vinegar; for the tres golpes: frying white cheese, Dominican salami and egg.
Hot, in a flattened mound topped with onion in vinegar, with fried cheese, salami and an egg on the side; sometimes served with avocado.
Everyday breakfast; also eaten at dinner.
Your questions
Fried white cheese, fried Dominican salami and fried egg, served alongside mangú at breakfast.
No. Traditional mangú is made with green plantain, boiled and mashed.
It’s a popular legend without proof of the name’s origin.
Flavors of the Dominican Republic
Sweet cream made from cooked red beans that are mashed and strained, mixed with coconut milk and evaporated milk, sugar, sweet potato, raisins and spices, served with little cookies on top. It is the Lent and Holy Week dessert throughout the country.
Everyday lunch: white rice, stewed beans and stewed meat, with salad and often tostones. The name evokes the colors of the national flag, and rice with beans is a foundation of the country’s culinary identity.
Drink made from peels, roots, herbs and spices macerated in a bottle with rum, red wine and honey. It went from a country home remedy to a signature Dominican drink, and the name comes from damajuana, the large glass carboy.
Thick broth of assorted meats and tubers such as plantain, cassava, yam and yautía, served with white rice and avocado. In the festive version it includes seven meats. It is part of the national identity and has a history linked to colonial times.
Thin, crispy fried wheat-flour dough, savory, about the size of a plate. It’s the beach snack associated with Boca Chica, and the name comes from the English johnnycake, brought by immigrants from the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean.
Stewed, spicy goat kid meat scented with oregano, ají and garlic, typical of the Línea Noroeste and Monte Cristi. Local belief holds that the region’s goats graze on wild oregano, which seasons the meat even before cooking.
Fresh fish seasoned with lime and cooked in a coconut milk sauce with annatto, cilantro, onion and garlic. It is Samaná’s signature dish, where coconut defines the local cuisine.
Homemade liqueur made from the guavaberry fruit, cooked with spices and mixed with rum, drunk at Christmas. It was brought to San Pedro de Macorís by the cocolos, Afro-Caribbean immigrants who came to work in the sugar mills.
