Chances are, at some point in your life you have been to a restaurant that has served Pupusas – though they are not a traditional Mexican food, they can sometimes be found on the menu at a Mexican restaurant.
A pupusa is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of a thick, handmade corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz). They can be stuffed with cheese, chorizo, refried beans, or any combination of those items.
They are traditionally cooked on a comal (a flat griddle) – not fried. They aren’t difficult or time consuming to make, but if you buy them at a restaurant then they are usually very heavy, covered with a ton of cheese and can be fairly greasy. At least they are for us.. so as tempting as it is for us to head out and eat them, it makes us feel yucky for days after.
Not to mention … it’s so expensive to eat out, especially with a family of 7. Ours aren’t near perfect and they might not be as tantalizing as the restaurant variety but they are so much better in terms of cost.
Pupusas aren’t difficult to make, but they aren’t as easy as a meal you would dump and go. Although they appear to be fried, they aren’t ~ they are placed on a griddle and cooked until they are lightly browned on each side.
You’ll start by putting a pepper in the food processor along with the cheese – we used a yellow bell pepper and it is our favorite color pepper to use. The pepper gives the cheese flavor but also works to allow you to lessen the cheese a little, too.
After you add both to the food processor, you zap in the microwave for 20-25 seconds so that it’s a nice soft, pliable filling. Coat your hands with a little oil before making the pupusa masa patties – then add the filling to the center of each patty and bring up the outside up and over the filling to pinch at the top.
Your goal is to encapsulate that filling in the pupusa so that nobody knows it’s in there ;)
After you flatten back into the shape of a disc, throw it on a dry skillet and let them cook. Pupusas are traditionally served with curtido ~ while we don’t always make that to serve with ours, if we do, we try to make that earlier in the day to give it time to sit in the fridge.
- 2 C. Maseca Brand corn flour
- 1 1/2 C. water
- pinch of salt
- 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
- The cheese: Place the shredded cheese into your food processor with the pepper and process until the peppers are well blended into the cheese.
- Then, place the cheese in a bowl and warm the bowl in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. Squeeze that cheese mixture with your hands -- it'll become really puffy (that's what you want) - a really nice soft feel.
- Then, cover that and set it aside.
- To make the dough: mix the water and masa in a bowl until it's fluffy - the dough can be tricky. Too dry and it will crack.. and too moist and it won't hold into patties. Find that perfect medium.. it's possible!
- Masa should be sticky enough to hold and shape into patties. If it's too dry, add a small bit of water until it's the right consistency.
- Then, place a large, golf ball size ball of masa in your hand (coat your hands with a little oil first), and roll it into a nice ball shape.
- Flatten the ball out to make it the shape of a small disc/puck in your hand. Place a tablespoon of cheese (and beans, if you are using them too) in the middle. Then pull the outer edges up, and over the middle filling to enclose it like a pouch.
- Then flatten the disc a bit with your hands, back into the shape of a small puck. This time, your puck has a "filling" - nobody but you would know that.
- Flatten that disc back and forth between your palms/hands - keep it as tight as possible to prevent it from cracking and from the filling coming out. You want them to be a little less than 1/2" thick.
- Fire up your skillet or griddle, and put on low/medium - add just a SMALL bit of oil (1 Tbsp if not less) and allow that oil to coat the skillet before placing each patty directly down on the heat.
- Allow to cook until light brown on one side. Then flip and cook the other side - about 2-3 minutes on each side. Depending on the size of your skillet you may be able to cook multiple at once.
- Enjoy them with sour cream, salsa, or the traditional curtido.
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