My immersion blender died. Cue sad trombone. On the bright side, I learned that my food processor cannot be used to grind cumin seeds into powder. Wait…unnecessary dirty dishes and a broken favorite appliance – definitely not the bright side. BUT. This mojo IS bright and will add some serious zip to your next batch of veggie fajitas! But we’ll get to that in a bit.
I realize that mourning an immersion blender is more than a bit ridiculous, and I’m definitely not wearing all black and moping around the house or anything, but it’s still a bummer. I have had mine for at least 7 years, and it has been one of my most indispensable kitchen tools. And it’s the perfect tool for this mojo, but since mine broke in the middle of me photographing how to make it, I had to go a different route for the photos. I guess I could have faked it, but that’s not my style. 🙂
This recipe calls for ground cumin, and I grind mine from whole seeds, because it’s more affordable and super fresh. I was all excited because I was first going to grind the cumin seeds in the same jar that I blended the mojo, but once the immersion blender went down, I was scrambling for a different option.
This is the part where the immersion blender dies. RIP, immersion blender. I will miss you.
Next up, I tried the food processor, because I was really into the idea of grinding the cumin up with the same tool with which I blended the mojo. But, sadly, I learned that a food processor is not the right tool to grind spices. It just kind of spun the cumin seeds around, grinding some but not others.
So, my trusty coffee grinder turned spice grinder to the rescue. Honestly I probably should have just used this from the beginning, but I tend to learn lessons the hard way. And by that I mean the messy way.
There was one other way that I was going to use the immersion blender for this mojo, and that was to show you how I store chipotles in adobo. I LOVE LOVE LOVE chipotle peppers for all that smoky spicy vinegary flavor, but once you open a can, what do you do with the leftovers? No way are you going to need more than a few peppers, unless you’re making chili for 100 or something. So, I love to transfer the whole can into a pint sized wide mouth mason jar, and then puree the whole shebang with the immersion blender. It keeps in the fridge like that FOREVER. I mean, a long time. It’s all thanks to the vinegar in the adobo sauce. And then you have chipotle puree at the ready for whatever you like! 1 tablespoon of puree is the rough equivalent to 1 pepper straight from the can, just FYI.
Dang, what a bad time for the immersion blender to go to appliance heaven. I’ll get over it. Now that we have all of our ingredients prepped and ready to go, it’s super easy to make this mojo.
Beth, what the heck is mojo?
OH! I guess we didn’t talk about that, did we? Sorry about that.
Mojo (“MO-ho”) is a marinade that is typically citrus-based, most often made with oranges. I first came to learn about it from a Food Network show called Tyler’s Ultimate, when celebrity chef Tyler Florence made his ultimate fajitas. The mojo that he used is super delicious, but I have played around with it quite a bit and really love using hemp seeds instead of the oil both for nutrition and to make it creamy without oil. And, as a bonus, you can use less liquid and turn it into a super flavorful dressing for any Mexican-themed salads. Plus, it’s super easy to make. Let’s do it!
Here are the cast of characters:
Salt
Ground cumin
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
Fresh cilantro
Orange juice, freshly squeezed
Lime juice, freshly squeezed
Hemp hearts/seeds
Garlic
Making this mojo is as easy as adding all the ingredients to a blender along with some water and pureeing until smooth and creamy. Adjusting the water down will give you a thicker, creamier marinade that is really more of a salad dressing. If your immersion blender is still alive, you can also blend this up in a mason jar and not dirty up your blender. Or your food processor. Or your spice grinder. GAH – I’ll get over it one day.
I like to use a fine-mesh strainer directly over the blender to juice the oranges and limes – keeps the seeds from accidentally falling in and making the mojo bitter. I’m a nerd who has fine mesh strainers in a set of three different sizes, but in my defense I use them all equally.
So, what else can you do with this magical mojo? My current obsession is to marinate thick slices of cauliflower and grill them up. Then I serve them on slider buns like burgers, or make my own ultimate veggie fajitas. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. Oh, and by the way, Grilled Cauliflower Sliders are coming to the blog in just a couple of days. Watch this space!
How will you get your mojo on? Fajitas? Salad? Grilled portobellos? There goes my mouth watering again. If you make this, pretty please with cilantro on top give me a shout! You can tag @passtheplants on Instagram.
Get your mojo mojo on! If you see what I did there, we’re meant to be friends. 🙂
Oil-Free Hemp Mojo
Ingredients
- 1 orange (juiced)
- 1 lime (juiced)
- 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 1 in chipotle pepper adobo
- 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shelled hemp seeds (such as Manitoba Harvest brand)
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 1 cup water (3/4 cup if using as a salad dressing)
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients until smooth. Use as a marinade for fajitas, or as a salad dressing.
You use an immersion blender to grind spices?
I do! Because of my mason jar obsession, it’s handy because I can dump in the spices and grind right in the mason jar where I’ll store them. It doesn’t work with everything because often I don’t need to grind very much at one time, but in the case of cumin, I use it all the time, so the immersion blender method works for me. With that said, I really hope the death of the immersion blender was not due to operator error. Proceed with caution. 🙂
HA! That’s awesome… I never would have thought of that… haven’t wanted to buy a dedicate coffee spice grinder as I rarely need to grind spices… but have wanted a solution… this is perfect!
PS – I love my mason jars as well… my immersion blender fits perfectly in the wide mouth pints / 8 oz
Oh, Beth, I am so sorry about your immersion blender! ? I don’t thinks pathetic to mourn it. I would be a basket case/upset/frustrated if my favorite kitchen appliance just up and died on me. Though I’m sure that will happen to me some day…
This sounds so good, and so unique!! I can’t wait to give it a try…my biggest problem is trying to choose what to use it for first! ? I can’t wait for your future recipe(s?? ?) that uses it.
So I come home with a giant bag of hemp seeds to make this, and my husband tells me that his work prohibits him from eating them (because they could make a drug test positive). Can I add a little oil instead?? Also, what should I do with my giant bag of hemp seeds? 😉
Oh wow, Cassie, that’s so interesting! I think it’s so interesting that there are still places that warn against eating hemp because of drug testing. From what I’ve seen on the topic the person would have to eat a whole bag to even be at risk for testing positive. 🙂 What I would suggest is to keep the bag in the fridge or freezer, it’ll last a long time that way and you can enjoy them on salads or in smoothies. As for what to use in this mojo, some oil is fine, or I think pepitas (pumpkin seeds) would be a great sub!
Thanks Beth! I think we have some pepitas I can try!
Pepitas worked great! This stuff tastes amazing, thanks so much!
Woo hoo!!! I figured they would. I’m so glad you love it!
Hi! I have never heard of mojo, but it looks great. I have a potluck on Friday, would you recommend this as a dipping sauce for fresh spring rolls? Thanks!
Hi Noelle! It might work, but with the chipotle it definitely has more of a latin flair than what people typically associate with fresh spring rolls. It just so happens that I have a recipe for sweet potato peanut sauce that goes great with spring rolls, as well as a post about the rolls themselves. Hope that helps! 🙂
WHAT?? I’ve never heard of this magic but it sounds amazing! Definitely want to try this!
Hope you let me know if you do, friend! It’s ridiculously tasty.