Pupusas are a traditional dish from El Salvador. They can be filled with different ingredients and they are delicious served with curtido.
Pupusas with Curtido from El Salvador
Ingredients
Curtido
- ½ head green cabbage shredded
- 1 carrot shredded
- ¼ teaspoon finely chopped habanero pepper
- ½ red onion thinly sliced
- Salt and pepper
- Juice of ½ lime
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup warm water
Pupusas
- 2 cups masarina or corn flour
- 1 cup warm water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup queso fresco
- ¼ cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup refried beans
- 1 cup cooked chicharrón diced
Instructions
- Combine the masa harina, warm water and salt, mixing thoroughly. Let mixture stand for five minutes.
- Knead with your hands for about 3 minutes, moistening your hands with water as you work.
- Form 8 small balls with the dough. Place each ball between 2 plastic bags and with a flat pot cover, flatten to ½ inch.
- Remove the top plastic of 4 tortillas, sprinkle the cheddar cheese, queso fresco and mozarella cheese over the bottom of each tortilla. Add the refried beans evenly on top of the cheese, then top with chicharron. Top with another tortilla. Press the borders to close the pupusa so the filling does not come out.
- Add the oil to a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place the pupusas in the pan, and cook about 3 minutes on each side, until a crust forms or they are golden brown. Serve warm with curtido.
To make the curtidio:
- Place all the ingredients in a bowl an mix well. Place in the fridge until ready to serve.
Nutrition
My friend Joan from Foodalogue is going on a virtual culinary tour “South of the Border” and the first stop was Mexico, so I joined her with these Chicken Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa.
This week we are going to El Salvador and I am joining her with their national dish, Pupusas. I didn’t know anything about Salvadorian cuisine when Joan announced the itinerary, so I started searching for information about their culture and food. I learned that some Salvadorian dishes are similar to some Colombian traditional dishes. Such similarities can be seen in dishes such as fried cassava and fried sweet plantains.
Pupusas are a thick tortilla made with masa de maiz, which is also used in Mexican tortillas and tamales. Traditionally, pupusas are stuffed with refried beans, Salvadorean cheese, chicharron( fried pork belly), loroco and other fillings like chicken, shrimp and more. They are served with curtido, a cabbage and carrot salad with a vinegar dressing. I made beans and cheese pupusas for my vegetarian husband and I made chicharron, beans and cheese pupusas for myself and they were both delicious with the curtido. I didn’t have Salvadorian cheese, so I used a mix of Queso fresco, mozarella and cheddar cheese.
Velva
Delicious!!! The Culinary Virtual Tour is an awesome idea.
Erica
Thank you guys 🙂 I appreciate all your comments!
Faith
I am really loving this virtual culinary tour! These look super tasty and just perfect with the curtido on the side!
grace
oh, how delicious. and those beans make the perfect filler--i could probably eat my weight in these. 🙂
Christine @ Fresh Local and Best
Gosh, it's been ages since I've had papusas! I love the warm crispy exterior and how filling these patties are.
Vinolia
that's a yummy refreshing dish you've got there; love the curtido preparartion, must have bennn crunchy and munchy, lovely combination of veggies!! looks great with the filled pupusas!!!!
Ruth
I would love to be able to make something like this, sounds so delicious!
Angie@Angie's Recipes
They look very much like Chinese pancakes. Yummy!
Simply Life
Oh my, this looks like it's just oozing with delicious-ness 🙂
Erica
Thank you all for the comments 🙂 These pupusas are delicious!
Devon
There is a large El Salvadorian community in my neighborhood, so I can order these for take-out. I hope Ecuador is the next stop on the Foodalogue tour; I'm going there in a few weeks and know nothing about the food.
Mari
These are delicious, I had hem in Massachusetts and hey were awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
Joan Nova
They came out great, Erica. I think the Salvadorans were smart to pair curtido with pupusas because the acid of the salad cuts some of the fat from the cheese and chiccarones. 🙂 Thanks so much for participating.
Sandra g
I've always wanted to learn to make pupusas, but though it was to complicated, but is not!, thank you Erica, can't wait to try them!
Ben
Oh, I've heard about pupusas before, but I've never knew exactly what they were. Great contribution to the roundup! 😀
Divina
This is a mouthwatering dish. It's great to learn something new. 😀