National Dishes of the World

EN PL

Pupusas
Photo: JMRAFFi, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

snack vegetarian

Pupusas

Thick corn-dough griddle cakes stuffed with cheese, beans or pork, served with tangy curtido slaw and tomato salsa.

Eaten in: El Salvador

Prep
40 min
Cooking
30 min
Resting
1 h
Total
2 h 10 min
Servings
4

Jump to recipe

About the dish

Pupusas are thick, round corn-dough cakes stuffed with a filling and cooked on a hot griddle (comal). The favourite fillings are soft, stretchy cheese (quesillo), red bean purée, finely ground fried pork (chicharrón), or all of them together as pupusas revueltas. Cheese with loroco – edible flower buds with a green, slightly bitter aroma – is another classic. Pupusas always come with curtido, a tangy relish of cabbage, carrot and onion with oregano and vinegar, plus a thin tomato salsa, and they are eaten with the fingers. In El Salvador they are food for everyone and every occasion, sold at pupuserías from morning until late at night.

Main ingredients

  • masa harina
  • cheese
  • red beans
  • cabbage
  • carrot
  • vinegar
  • tomatoes

El Salvador: El Salvador's national dish; every town has its pupuserías.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Pupusas

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/pupusas

Ingredients

4 servings

4 servings

Method

  1. Make the curtido: shred the cabbage, grate the carrot and slice the onion thinly, blanch with boiling water and drain. Mix with the vinegar, oregano, a pinch of salt and 100 ml water and leave for at least an hour.

  2. Blend the tomatoes with the garlic, bring to the boil in the oil and simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with salt.

  3. Mix the masa harina with 1 tsp salt and gradually add the warm water until you have a soft, smooth dough that does not crack at the edges. Divide into 8 balls.

  4. Mix the cheese with the bean purée. Wet your hands with water and a drop of oil, flatten a ball of dough into a cup, add a spoonful of filling and close it up.

  5. Gently pat the ball between your palms into a cake about 1 cm thick and 10–12 cm across.

  6. Cook the pupusas on a hot, lightly oiled griddle or frying pan for 3–4 minutes a side, until spotted golden and the cheese starts to melt.

  7. Serve hot with the curtido and tomato salsa.

From the same kitchen