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Epicurious

Puerto Rican-Style Ají Dulce Sauce (Ajilimójili)

Editor's note: Use this with Maricel Presilla's Boiled Yuca (Yuca Hervida) .

Ajilimójili (ah-hee-lee-MOH-hee-lee) is the wonderful whimsical name for this Puerto Rican–inspired sauce. How to translate this tongue-twister? It seems that it is a composite of the words ajo (garlic) and moje (sauce), but much more can be drawn from it. In Cuba and the Mexican state of Tabasco, ajilimójili is a colloquialism for the Castilian Spanish intríngulis, a hidden reason that is suddenly revealed, or the workings necessary to pull something off, or the key to making a difficult feat look simple. Why was this sauce called ajilimójili? Perhaps because it has its own ajilimójili—the "inner workings" to make any food it touches splendid. Serve with Puerto Rican Pasteles .

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes about 2 1/4 cups

Ingredients

12 Caribbean sweet peppers (ajíes dulces)
1 cubanelle pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 Scotch Bonnet or habanero chile, seeded
7 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small yellow onion (about 5 ounces), coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1 bunch cilantro, leaves stripped from stems (about 2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Preparation

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process to a coarse emerald-green sauce. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for 2 to 3 days.

Cover of the cookbook Gran Cocina Latina featuring a mortar and pestle and various ingredients used in Latin American cooking.
Reprinted with permission from Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America by Maricel Presilla, © 2012 Norton. Buy the full book from Amazon or AbeBooks.
TagsSaucePuerto RicanCaribbeanGarlicRoot VegetableVegetableCilantroHerbs & SpicesDairy FreeGluten FreeNut FreeRawVeganVegetarianQuickEasyMake AheadNo-CookBlenderFood ProcessorCookbooks
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