Salvadorian Pupusas

I met a young man from El Salvador, Herson Peraza, in the produce isle at the supermarket. I told him about my quest to learn a dish from a native of every country in the world. He invited me over to share how he and his sister cook their favorite meal from home: pupusas and taquitos. Click at right for the full story, recipes, and how-to photos.

photo: Lindsay Sterling

copyright 2015 Lindsay Sterling

The Story

Picking Up Pupusas

A Salvadorian cooking lesson

By Lindsay Sterling

I met twenty-seven-year-old Herson Peraza by the tomatoes at the supermarket. He was speaking in Spanish to an acquaintance of mine. I asked him where he was from. When he said, “El Salvador,” I just about invited myself over to his house for lunch. Well, actually I did invite myself over to his house for lunch. How embarrassingly forward. My only excuse is that I am on a cooking quest to learn how to make a favorite dish from a native of every country in the world. And I was on the cusp of completing Central America.

On his day off from managing the kitchen at Boda restaurant, he and his sister, Erika Lopez, showed me how to cook their favorite dishes from home: pupusas, thick tortillas stuffed with refried beans and cheese; taquitos, pulled chicken rolled in a tortilla and fried; curtido, a salad of chili and shredded cabbage; and salsa de tomate, a warm red sauce.

When Herson and Erika were kids in El Salvador, their grandparents raised them for seven years while their mom worked in Maine picking crabmeat in a seafood factory. Erika and Herson grew up eating their grandmother’s cooking, but didn’t learn how to cook from her because she wasn’t fond of people being in her kitchen—“Especially men!” Herson added. On weekends Erika and Herson liked spending their allowance going out with their friends to get pupusas at restaurants.

Pupusas are fat tortillas stuffed with different fillings like pork, refried beans, and cheese. When I say stuffed, I don’t mean like a taco or a burrito. The pupusa filling is sealed inside the tortilla itself. A pupusa is like a tortilla that’s pregnant with a refried-bean-and-cheese baby.

When Herson was 14 years old, and Erika, 19, they joined their mother in the United States. Herson went to Portland High School and Erika started her adult life here. The nearest Salvadorian restaurants were in Boston, so Erika set out to learn how to make pupusas herself. The first time she made them they were so bad she threw them away. (Indeed, my own first attempts were lumpy, wobbly, cracked, and oozing.) Over time she tweaked her method. Now she pats her hands expertly and throws perfect saucer-shaped discs onto the griddle.

Herson learned how to cook in professional restaurant kitchens. He worked for a year at the Japanese restaurant, King of the Roll, and for the last four years at the Thai restaurant, Boda. “At some point in the future I would like to open my own restaurant,” he said. Erika works at Boda, too. It just goes to show, you don’t have to be Thai to cook great Thai food. Likewise, you don’t have to be Salvadorian to cook Salvadorian. You just need someone to teach you. As Herson sees me pick up my fork, he laughs. I ask him what’s up. He explains. “Eating a pupusa with a fork is kind of like eating a hamburger with a fork.”

Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2015

The Recipe - Salvadorian Pupusas

Salvadorian Bean and Cheese Pupusas

As Erika Lopez and Herson Peraza from La Palma, El Salvador, taught Lindsay Sterling in Portland, ME, November 2015

Note: Serve pupusas with curtido and salsa de tomate. Make those first and then make the pupusas.

Active Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves: 8

3 cups masa flour
1 3/4-2 cups cups water
8 oz. refried beans
1 cup shredded mozzerella
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp oil

In large bowl knead 3 cups masa flour and 1 3/4 cups water for 2 minutes. (If you don't knead it, your pupusas will crack and ooze stuffing on the griddle). You may need to add a little bit more water. See how it goes. You want the dough to be soft, pliable, holding together as one mass, and not clinging to the sides of the bowl or sticking substantially to your hands. Once you knead it into a mass, you should be able to press your hand print easily in the top of the mass of dough. If though dough seems too hard for you to do that easily, knead in more water until you can do it. Let the kneaded dough rest covered with a towel while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a large saute pan, saute the garlic in oil. Once that is fragrant and soft, add the refried beans, stirring occasionally. Once refried beans are hot and smooth, add the shredded cheese. Stir until cheese is incorporated and completely melted. Set aside to let cool.

Once beans are cool enough to touch, get a side dish of 1-2 Tbsp oil ready, along with your bowl of dough and your refried beans. Heat a griddle or a skillet on medium heat. Watch this quick video to see how to form the pupusas. It shows how you take a lime-sized chunk of dough, roll it into a ball between your hands and pat it into a 1/4-inch-thick disc. Cup one hand and mould the disc into the cup of your hand. Put a wad of about 2 Tbsp-worth of the bean dip into the depression. Close the disc of dough around the bean dip, breaking off any extra dough that bunches at the top. Dip two fingers of your primary hand in the oil and swipe them on the heal of your other hand to to help keep the dough from sticking as you pat the round bundle closed and then pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick disc.)

Put the pupusa on the hot griddle, preferably cast iron or nonstick. (If you're using a stainless steel pan, you'll need to oil the pupusas or pan to prevent sticking.) Cook about 2 minutes per side until masa dough turns from raw to caky has some golden toasty parts.

Serve with curtido, a Salvadorian kind of cabbage slaw, and a red sauce called salsa de tomate.

Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2015

The Recipe - Curtido (Cabbage Salad)

Salvadorian Cabbage Salad
Curtido

Serves: 8
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

1 small cabbage or part of a larger one, shaved finely with a paring knife
1 large carrot, grated on a grater
1/4 onion, cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 jalapeno, sliced into rounds
1 small beet, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano

Fill a medium pot half full of water and bring to a boil. Add cabbage. Drain cabbage immediately (you just want to soften the cabbage a little bit). In a large mixing bowl mix cabbage, carrot, onion, jalepeno, and beet and put mixture into a quart size mason jar. Mix salt, vinegar, water, and oregano in a separate container. Pour liquid into jar. Press vegetable contents under liquid. Refrigerate and serve with pupusas.

Copyright 2015 Lindsay Sterling

The Recipe - Salvadorian Salsa de Tomate

Salvadorian Red Sauce
Salsa de Tomate

As Erika Lopez and Herson Peraza from La Palma, El Salvador, taught Lindsay Sterling in Portland, ME, November 2015

A tomato sauce for serving with taquitos and pupusas.

1/4 onion
3 tomatoes
1/4 green pepper
1 chicken bouillon packet or 1 tsp Better than Bouillon
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp Goya  sazon con azafran or achiote for color

Blend all ingredients in blender. Transfer sauce to a small pan. Cook on medium until color darkens from pink to darker red. Serve on the side of pupusas and drizzled on top of taquitos.

Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2015

See How To Do It

Check out my youtube video to see  exactly how Erika made these magical little patties.