Mangú con Los Tres Golpes: What Is It, History & How to Make It

Comfort food plays an essential role in your life, whether you turn to it occasionally or regularly. Some people are always keeping a lookout for new recipes to try for their favorite comfort foods.

It is also exciting and satisfying to discover comfort foods from other cultures.

Mangú con Los Tres Golpes is a traditional Dominican breakfast dish. The direct translation of Los Tres Golpes is “the three hits”. Mangú, otherwise known as boiled plantains or green bananas, is served with ‘the three hits’: fried cheese, fried salami, and fried eggs. In addition to breakfast, you can also do this dish for lunch and dinner.

This article will begin by sharing more about the origins of Mangú con Los Tres Golpes and the ingredients used to make this popular Dominican food.

You’ll discover some easy ideas to serve this dish for meals other than breakfast.

We will also get you started with a few top Mangú with Los Tres Golpes recipes.

The History of Mangú con Los Tres Golpes

Traditional Dominican dish, Mangú con Los Tres Golpes

Boiled, mashed plantains or Mangú originated in West Africa. Dominicans derived it from Ghanian ‘fufu’.

African influences on Dominican food, culture, and even architecture dates back to the 1500s as a side effect of the slave trade.

This influence continued throughout history, including when freed slaves from the United States traveled to Haiti to start a new life.

Key Ingredients for Making Mangú con Los Tres Golpes

Since Mangú and Los Tres Golpes is considered a staple in the Dominican Republic, the ingredients are usually the same no matter which recipe you use.

Some garnishes are optional. We’ll explain more about that below.

Plantains are a variety of banana that originated in Southeast Asia. They mainly grow in tropical regions. Unlike regular bananas, plantains cannot be eaten raw. You usually boil or fry them before they ripen; therefore, most people know them as green bananas. You will find them mainly in savory recipes rather than dessert recipes.

There are two kinds of Dominican frying cheese. Queso Blanco means ‘white cheese’ in Spanish. This generic term means the cheese may vary slightly depending on where you live. Queso Para Freir is a firm, mild white cheese. It is common to see these two kinds of cheese called for in Dominican recipes.

Dominican salami is a staple in the Dominican Republic. It is fully-cooked meat that does not require refrigeration and is exceptionally affordable enough to serve for breakfast almost every day. You can buy it here. If the idea of aged meat does not appeal to you or this type of salami is not as readily available in your area, you can make homemade Dominican salami. Using fresh ingredients, you can make this recipe in just a few hours.

Based on our research of many Los Tres Golpes recipes, the eggs used in this dish are regular chicken eggs. The number of eggs called for does vary from one recipe to another. None of the recipes seem to specify a particular size for the eggs.

Red onions are sweeter than other onions. This veggie is available all year-round and is perfect for grilling and frying. Fried red onions are a traditional but optional garnish to top the boiled, mashed plantains. If you don’t care for onions, it is entirely acceptable to omit them from your recipe.

Avocado is a popular optional garnish for Los Tres Golpes. This fruit is surprisingly a berry and varies widely in shape, size, and weight. Most avocados are yellow and green, and sometimes purple. It was not until this century that horticulturalists domesticated the avocado tree and cultivated its growth.

How to Make Mangú con Los Tres Golpes at Home

Preparing Mangú and Los Tres Golpes for your family is relatively easy.

One thing that would make short work of preparing the plantains for the Mangú is an Instapot, like the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus.

This highly-rated pressure cooker comes in 3, 6, and 8-quarts.

You can choose the size that matches your household’s needs for cooking plantains and so many other foods.

Watch this one-minute video below to learn how easy it is to prepare Mangú con Los Tres Golpes at home.

You can cook your peeled plantains in a pressure cooker while the salami, eggs, and cheese fry on the stove.

Using modern technology to prepare a long-loved classic meal is perfect for a busy weeknight.

Take a look with your own eyes:

Serve Mangú con Los Tres Golpes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

In the Dominican Republic, Mangú con Los Tres Golpes can be served the same way for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

If you are looking for something more satisfying for your non-breakfast meals, here are a few ideas for alternate ways to serve up this favorite Dominican comfort food.

Build a sandwich with Mangú and Los Tres Golpes. Pack a sub roll, pita wrap, or panini bread with the fried Dominican salami, cheese, and eggs for a more satisfying meal. You can serve the Mangú on the side. In this scenario, the Mangú becomes the side dish as the salami, cheese, and eggs traditionally are. You can add avocado to your sandwich if you desire.

Top a hamburger with Mangú and Los Tres Golpes to create a genuinely filling meal. You can use your favorite way to prepare hamburgers or veggie burger patties. Then load up a fresh bulky roll with one or two of those and add grilled Dominican salami, cheese, and eggs on top. You can spread the Mangú along with the grilled onions right on your burger for this meal option.

Create a Mangú con Los Tres Golpes pizza. Pizza is always a family-friendly option for dinner. You can opt to include a red sauce or not because it does change the taste of this traditional dish. Top your favorite pizza crust, store-bought or homemade, with the fried salami and eggs. Add cubes of Queso Blanco or Queso Para Freir before you put your pizza in the oven. The Mangú can be a side dish, or you can try using it in place of red sauce.

Top Mangú con Los Tres Golpes Recipes

Mangu con Los Tres Golpes, Popular Dominican Dish — Mangú with Los Tres Golpes, Popular Dominican Dish

If you are ready to give this Dominican comfort food a try, here are a few recipes to get you started.

Pick the one that sounds good to you and start cooking.

Below, we will note some similarities and differences to help you choose which one to try.

Mangú Con Los Tres Golpes Recipe by Tasty
Traditional Dominican Mangú Tres Golpes Recipe by Belqui’s Twist
Mangú Con Los Tres Golpes Recipe by Food For the Hungry

There are a few things we noticed that all these recipes have in common:

All three pickle the red onions with vinegar and salt.
They all call for the cheese to be dredged in flour before you fry them.
All of them use the plantain cooking water during the final preparation step for the mashed plantains.

One of the few things that stands out as being different is Belqui’s Twist’s recipe that does not call for butter.

Instead, she uses oil in her Mangú. This option would be a good option for anyone sensitive to dairy.

She also prefers to cook her onions in the microwave rather than in a skillet.

Although she does not present avocado as an optional add-on, you might consider it for its flavor and health benefits.

Final Mangu con Los Tres Golpes Thoughts

As far as comfort foods go, Mangú con Los Tres Golpes is wildly popular and easy to make.

It’s more than a breakfast dish to enjoy while drinking your favorite cup of Dominican coffee.

That this dish has roots dating back to the 1500s makes it even more appealing.

Although Mangú Con Los Tres Golpes recipes vary slightly from one to another, they all share the same key ingredients.

You can use your pressure cooker and the microwave to prepare this meal more simply for busy nights.

Sources

Jorge Garcia

Our blog is all about sharing our love of Latin American foods & drinks. We’ll bring you articles and recipes of the very best Latin American & Spanish cuisine. Amigofoods was founded in 2003 and is the largest online grocery store offering a wide variety of hard to find freshly imported foods & drinks from all over Latin America and Spain.

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