I was really excited for El Salvador. I love anything encased in masa or any other dough...tamales, arepas, empanadas, and of course pupusas, the national dish of El Salvador.
Pupusas start with masa, a flour made from corn, but distinct from corn meal or corn flour.
The flour is mixed with water, and a bit of salt and pepper, to make a soft dough. This dough is notoriously difficult to work with, because it doesn't stretch like dough made from white flour, so it crumbles and breaks easily. I wasn't sure exactly what texture it needed to be, so I did not add enough water in the beginning, and it was impossible to work with.
You then have to coat your hands in water and oil so the dough doesn't stick as you flatten it into a thick tortilla-like shape. This is about as big as I was able to get it, because the larger you go, the more it starts to crack. You can use some water to repair it, but folding it all up is also difficult.
The filling I chose for my pupusas was a simple refried black bean and cheese. You can fill pupusas with any number of things, but one popular version is chicharrón, or crispy pork.
The cheese I used was a crumbly queso fresco.
Once you have the fillings in the middle of the pupusa, you then have to bring the edges to the center, which was not easy. There was a lot of patching and smushing and cursing going on. You then flatten the whole thing in your hands. If you look up pictures of pupusas, you'll find that they're usually much bigger and flatter than this. I don't know what kind of black magic they use to get them like that, but I was too scared to flatten them any more than was necessary to seal them.
Once sealed, they're placed on a hot comal (I used a cast iron skillet) and cooked on each side until browned.
I served these with extra refried beans topped with cheese and some grilled poblano peppers, along with curtido, which is a Salvadoran pickled cabbage. I made mine with cabbage, carrots, onions, jalapeno, and oregano. Curtido is traditionally served alongside pupusas, perhaps because its bright and tangy flavor helps cut through the heavier aspects of the meal.
What my pupusas were lacking in traditional visual representation, they made up for in flavor. They really were delicious, which I suppose is not hard to achieve with such simple ingredients combined in the right ratios. Also, the curtido recipe ended up making three mason jars full; we ended up finishing the last of it this month (I made this in mid-November). Definitely not complaining; it's nice to have a pre-made ingredient to throw in the mix on taco night.
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