Hispanic Heritage · Puerto Rico

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Ponce · Salinas · Guayama · Juana Díaz · Santa Isabel · Coamo

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Chillo frito con mojo isleño

Descubre

Puerto Rico’s southern coast is the setting for chillo frito con mojo isleño. Crisp fried snapper meets a sauce of onions, tomato, olives, and capers: a lively combination of texture, acidity, and savory depth.

La Gente

Prepare the mojo ahead as directed so its flavors can settle. Cook the fish close to serving and spoon the sauce alongside or over it at the table. This keeps the contrast between crisp fish and rich sauce at its best.

Sabor

The south cooks brighter than the metro area. There is more acid in the pot, more tomato, more olives and capers, and all of it set against whatever just came out of the fryer. It is a coastal kitchen built on fish, salt, onions, and a sauce that has to sit overnight before it is ready.

Spice DNA · Acid high · Herb medium · Sweet low · Smoke none · Heat low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the mojo and in the fish marinade. Adds a savory garlic base.
Adobo with Pepper. On the fish before it goes in the oil, and on most other things in a southern kitchen.
Oregano, whole. Crumbled into the marinade with garlic and lime.
Bay leaves, whole. In the mojo from the first minute.
Black peppercorns, whole. The mojo wants them whole. Ground pepper turns the sauce muddy.
Sazón with Coriander and Annatto. For the rice that goes underneath the fish.

From your market: a whole red snapper, four large onions, olive oil, a jar of roasted red pimientos, manzanilla olives, tomato sauce, and limes. Badia does not sell the fish. Look for one with clear eyes and bright red gills.

Cocina

Chillo frito con mojo isleño

Serves 4

The mojo isleño, day one

½ cup olive oil
4 large white onions, sliced into thin half-moons
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 6 garlic cloves crushed
1 cup tomato sauce
½ cup roasted red pimientos, sliced
½ cup manzanilla olives, whole or halved
2 Badia Bay Leaves, whole
1 tsp Badia Black Peppercorns, whole
2 tbsp white vinegar
Salt to taste

Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook them slowly, stirring now and then, until they collapse and turn translucent. This takes about 20 minutes. Do not let them brown. The sweetness of the sauce comes from onions that were given time.
Add the garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns and cook for one minute, until the garlic smells cooked but has not colored.
Add the tomato sauce, pimientos, olives, and vinegar. Stir, cover, and hold it at the lowest simmer you can manage for 20 minutes more. The finished mojo is loose and glossy. If it looks like a thick pasta sauce, add a splash of water.
Taste for salt. Cool it, cover it, and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The onions and the vinegar need those hours to settle into each other.

The fish, day two

1 whole red snapper, 1½ to 2 lb, cleaned and scaled, with three shallow cuts scored into each side
Juice of 2 limes
4 tsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 4 garlic cloves crushed
1½ tsp Badia Adobo with Pepper
½ tsp Badia Oregano, whole, crumbled
½ cup flour
Oil for frying

Rub the fish inside and out with the lime, garlic, adobo, and oregano, working the seasoning into the cuts. Let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature, or overnight in the refrigerator, which is what a Salinas kitchen would do.
Pat the fish dry. Dust it lightly with flour and shake off the extra.
Heat an inch of oil in a heavy pan until it shimmers. Lay the fish in away from you. Fry for 5 to 6 minutes per side, until the skin is crisp and the flesh at the cuts has gone opaque. Drain it on a rack rather than on paper so the skin stays crisp.
Warm the mojo gently. Spoon it generously over the whole fish, head to tail. Serve with arroz con gandules or tostones and something cold to drink.

The kiosks serve it with the head on. The cheeks are the best part of the fish, and the people who know that are the people you want at your table.