Reblogged from fyeahelsalvador
Anyone who has ever been to El Salvador will probably come home raving about (and trying to figure out how to make) pupusas.
Pupusas are kind of like a thick tortilla stuffed with beans and cheese and whatever else you feel like adding in there. They’re usually made with corn (maiz) flour, but can be made with rice flour too. Pupusas can be eaten for breakfast or dinner, but they’re rarely eaten for lunch (which is the big meal in ES). They’re super cheap (anywhere from 35 cents to a dollar apiece), but they’re kind of like pizza in that the quality of the ingredients has a huge impact on the taste, as well as how your intestines feel after you’ve eaten them.
To make them, you basically mix maiz (or rice) flour with warm water until you get the perfect consistency. (Try 2 and a quarter cups of warm water for every three cups of flour, stirring in the water a little bit at a time.) That’s the hardest part, basically. If you have the tiniest bit too much water, the pupusas will stick to your hands and stretch out of shape, and if you have too little water, they’ll crack open and fall apart. If you can form it into a tortilla shape without it sticking to your hands too much, falling apart, or cracking, you should probably be OK. It helps if you wet your hands a bit.
Once you master the dough, take a small amount and pat it into a tortilla shape. Put some refried beans*, cheese**, chicharron (pork bits) or whatever into the tortilla and kind of close the dough around it, either by folding it over or up like a ball. Pinch off any excess dough. Now pat it back into a tortilla shape and toss it onto a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the bottom side has kind of a scorched (but not cracked) look, flip it over. Now go look up a recipe for the thin red salsa and cabbage curtido that traditionally accompany pupusas, and you’re all set!
*The refried beans I use are usually homemade, but as long as they’re relatively thick and not too sticky, they should be alright.
**The cheese they use here is called quesillo. It’s a soft, white, Salvadoran cheese that ends up oozing and stretching out of the cooked pupusa like mozzarella. In these pictures, it looks greenish because it’s been mixed with loroco, a small green bud with a strong flavor. If you’re outside of El Salvador and you can’t find quesillo, try Monterrey jack (or pepper jack, if you want a bit of spice). It melts really well and gives the pupusas an incredible flavor. Much nicer than mozzarella, and with a far better texture than queso fresco.
Any questions?
