High Octane Mojo Sauce

Cars, trucks, motorcycles, live music, food, and fun... that was The High Octane Car Show on Saturday.  Thanks to everyone for making my tacos al carbon with mojo sauce a big success.  

Rikki Rockett, drummer of Poison.
Hangin' out at the booth & enjoying some tacos.

Mojo sauce is not really a hot sauce, but more of a sauce that imparts flavor.  The sauce originated from the Canary Islands.  From there it migrated to Cuba and Puerto Rico.  It is a versatile sauce that can be used with anything from potatoes to marinades.  The traditional Cuban mojo consists of citrus juice (such as: sour orange), olive oil, and garlic.  Whereas, the traditional Puerto Rican sauce is more herbal with chopped cilantro or parsley, olive oil, garlic, vinegar, citrus juice, onion, black pepper, or butter.  

Ellie Laks  - Founder of The Gentle Barn
Stopped by the booth with her kids for some tasty tacos.

High Octane Mojo Sauce for Tacos Al Carbon

I made a marinade that was thicker and chunkier, and a smoother sauce for drizzling on the tacos.  For a marinade, use a food processor to blend together the cilantro, garlic, citrus juice, and jalapenos until chunky.  Then add the vinegar and olive oil and blend until mixed together (a few seconds only).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  For the mojo sauce, use a blender and blend all ingredients until smooth.  Refrigerate and let the flavors marry. 

I juiced oranges, limes, and a little grapefruit, added a little vinegar, a good amount of olive oil, lots of cilantro, a few bulbs of garlic, oregano, salt & pepper, and jalapenos for my mojo.  I made mojo sauce for 100’s of tacos, so I didn’t measure the proportions.  Though, the ratio of oranges to limes is equal parts (look out for the grapefruit juice - don't put too much or it'll become bitter.).  I found a couple recipes that are pretty similar with exact measurements if you want to use them as a base.  Food Network chef, Tyler Florence's mojo sauce or Epicurious' mojo sauce.  I think Tyler's sauce is a pretty close match, but mine has more cilantro.  Play around with the recipes and make it your own. 

You can check my Vegan Tacos Al Carbon, Mas Famosa for the taco recipe.  The only change would be - once the jalapenos, onions, and vegan “chicken” (I used Beyond Meats’ southwest “chicken” strips with great success.  It shreds nicely and has a good consistency.) are cooked, pour some of the mojo marinade over the mix and cook for a couple of minutes.  Taste it and see if you can taste a little vinegar bite.  If you can it’s ready.  If not, add a little more mojo.  (Watch out.  If you keep adding more mojo, it may heat up a little… okay, if you like it spicy hot.).  I topped my tacos with cabbage, cilantro, vegan sour cream (I used Follow Your Heart’s vegan sour cream.), and mojo sauce.  Que le aproveche!  Enjoy your meal.

Thanks again to Brian Kincaid and Beyond Meat for your support!