Mojo picón
The red sauce of the Canary Islands, served with papas arrugadas — small potatoes boiled in heavily salted water until their skins wrinkle and crust with salt. The sauce has three pillars: dried pepper, garlic and cumin. One rule governs it: the oil goes in last and slowly, into a finished paste. Added too early it coats the garlic and there is no grinding it smooth afterwards.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking the peppers 30 min
- Pounding 15 min
- Emulsifying with oil 10 min
- Letting the flavours meld 30 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the dried peppers in hot water
Cover the dried peppers with boiling water and soak 30 minutes, covered, until completely soft. Too short a soak leaves hard scraps of skin that neither grind in the mortar nor disperse in the finished sauce.
Ingredients: 4 pcs dried sweet peppers · 2 pcs dried hot chillies · 8 cloves garlic · 2 tsp cumin · 1½ tsp coarse salt
Half an hour covered — the skins must go completely soft.Scrape the flesh and discard the skins
Split the peppers, remove the seeds and scrape the flesh out with a teaspoon, discarding the skins. The skin cannot be ground smooth — it stays in the sauce as hard fibres that ruin the texture.
Ingredients: 4 pcs dried sweet peppers · 2 pcs dried hot chillies · 8 cloves garlic · 2 tsp cumin · 1½ tsp coarse salt
Toast the cumin before grinding
Toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan for 60 seconds, until fragrant. Toasting releases the essential oils — untoasted cumin is less aromatic and has a raw edge that is easy to notice in this sauce.
Ingredients: 4 pcs dried sweet peppers · 2 pcs dried hot chillies · 8 cloves garlic · 2 tsp cumin · 1½ tsp coarse salt
Pound the garlic with salt and cumin
Pound the garlic with the coarse salt and cumin to a smooth paste. The salt works as an abrasive — without it the garlic slides around the mortar and stays in pieces instead of turning to cream.
Ingredients: 4 pcs dried sweet peppers · 2 pcs dried hot chillies · 8 cloves garlic · 2 tsp cumin · 1½ tsp coarse salt
Coarse salt as abrasive — without it the garlic just slides.Add the pepper flesh and smoked paprika
Add the soaked pepper flesh and the smoked paprika and grind to a uniform brick-red paste. For a thicker sauce, add the bread soaked in a tablespoon of the vinegar now — the traditional Canarian thickener.
Ingredients: 4 pcs dried sweet peppers · 2 pcs dried hot chillies · 8 cloves garlic · 2 tsp cumin · 1½ tsp coarse salt
Add the oil slowly, grinding
Pour in the oil in a thin stream, working the pestle in one direction. This is an emulsion: all at once the oil separates and the sauce carries a pool of fat on top instead of a smooth, thick body.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 4 tbsp wine vinegar · 1 tsp sweet paprika · 30 g bread
A thin stream, one direction — this is an emulsion.Add the vinegar at the end
Stir in the vinegar (what is left, if some went on the bread) only after all the oil — once the sauce has its final thickness it is easiest to judge how much acid it needs. Start with two spoons and taste — mojo should be clearly sour without being harsh.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 4 tbsp wine vinegar · 1 tsp sweet paprika · 30 g bread
Rest half an hour before using
Leave the sauce 30 minutes at room temperature. Garlic and cumin need time to move into the oil. Freshly ground mojo tastes sharp and disjointed; after half an hour it comes together.
Ingredients: 250 ml olive oil · 4 tbsp wine vinegar · 1 tsp sweet paprika · 30 g bread
Before you start
Mojo rojo and mojo verde
In the Canaries two sauces are usually served together: the red picón from dried peppers and a green one from coriander or parsley. The green uses identical technique, with a bunch of fresh herbs and a green chilli in place of the dried peppers.
Papas arrugadas are the compulsory partner
Small potatoes are boiled in water with a huge quantity of sea salt — half a cup per litre — until the water evaporates and the skins crust white. The salt does not penetrate, and the sauce has something to cling to.
A week in the fridge
Keep mojo in the fridge for a week at most, in a closed jar. Raw garlic in oil is an airless environment where, with longer storage, botulism bacteria can grow — do not keep it out of the fridge or for longer. Freeze a bigger batch in small tubs. Take it out an hour before serving — cold oil sets and the sauce becomes a stiff paste rather than a pourable dressing.