Basic Cheese Pupusas Food

BASIC CHEESE PUPUSAS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add cabbage and cook uncovered until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and immediately immerse in ice water for several minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain.
• Mix cabbage, apple cider vinegar, water, onion, carrot, oregano, red pepper flakes, and 1 pinch salt together in a large bowl. Refrigerate until flavors combine, 8 hours to overnight.
• Combine masa harina, water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a large bowl; knead until a smooth, moist dough forms. Add water if dough cracks when you press down on it. Let dough rest, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, heavy cream, and scallion together in a bowl to make a paste.
• Divide dough into 8 balls. Press your thumb into the center of each ball to form an indentation. Fill indentations with ricotta cheese paste. Pinch edges together around the filling; flatten and smooth into round 1/4 inch-thick patties between your palms.
• Grease a skillet with cooking spray; preheat over medium heat. Cook pupusas in batches until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
• Drain cabbage mixture and serve alongside pupusas.

PUPUSAS

Steps:

• A complete Salvadoran pupusas has many components.
• 1 - Filling - Fillings will vary based on your taste but the two most popular fillings are pupusas de queso, pupusas made of cheese only, or pupusas revueltas, pupusas made of a few different fillings. The most common revueltas are made of beans and cheese or chicharron and cheese - see my post on making chicharrones to make this one. My personal favorite is pupusas de queso con loroco, which are pupusas filled with cheese and a type of edible green flower called loroco that is quite similar to asparagus in both look and taste.
• 2. Masa dough - This is the standard dough used to make corn tortillas - see my recipe for tortillas de maiz here.
• 3 - Curtido - A mix of fermented cabage with a little bit of onion, shaved carrot, and hot chile peppers mixed inches Curtido is either served on the side or put on top of the pupusa to be eaten together in same bite.
• 4 - Salsa Roja, or "Red Sauce", served on the side or poured over the curtido and pupusa to be eaten together in same bite.
• Now for the secrets to making authentic Salvadoran pupusas! Are you ready? Sshhh! Don't tell anyone!
• Make your own refried beans. Handmade refried beans carry much more flavor and are less greasy and watery than the canned refried beans you can buy at the store. To make your own refried beans, simply prepare small Central American red beans the way you would to make arroz curtido. When the beans are done cooking, blend some of them up in a blender and cook them in a saucepan with a few tablespoons of oil over low heat for about 30-40 minutes.
• Add butter or margarine to your Mozzarella cheese. When you pour out the amount of mozzarella you will use, add a few scoops of cold butter or margarine to it. The butter/margarine makes the flavor pop and will prevent you from needing to grease the pupusas with oil when you cook them. I personally use margarine because the extra oils in it create a better pupusa than butter will.
• Only use Mozarella cheese for your cheese filling! This is a very important secret. Some international stores sell what they call "queso para pupusas", or "pupusas cheese". This cheese is an imposter! A fake I tell you, run as fast as you can from it! This cheese looks like Mozarella cheese but tastes terrible and if you read the ingredients you will find that it doesn't even contain any milk at all. This cheese is made out of nothing but hydrogenated oils and trans fats. This cheese is cheaper than buying real Mozarella cheese but it destroys the taste and also destroys your health. I have also seen a lot of videos on the web that add all sorts of other dairy products to their mozarrella filling - crema, hard cheese, and panella cheese are just a few I have seen. While these videos say they are making authentic Salvadoran pupusas, I can assure you that this is not an authentic pupusa and will surely not taste like one either.
• Cook your pupusas over a gas stove or skillet, not on an electric one. The reason for this is that gas stoves and skillets can get much hotter than electric ones. When the heat is too low, you will get cracks on the outter tortilla skin of your pupusa. You want to cook each side of the pupusa for about 30 seconds, and flip on each side about three times. Once the pupusa starts to puff up and fillings begins to ooze out of, they are done cooking.
• Directions:.
• -Prepare the re-fried beans the day before by boiling Central American small red beans until soft, (takes about three hours, see my post for Arroz Curtido for exact directions).
• - Blend about half of the soft red beans in a blender and cook this puree in a skillet on low heat for 30-40 minutes.
• -The day you make the pupusas, mix all ingredients for red sauce in blender and blend until pureed.
• -Pour red sauce into a small skillet covered with a tablespoon of oil and heat on medium-high until boiling.
• -Once sauce boils, turn off heat but leave pot on burner so sauce will be remain warm when you serve the pupusas.
• -Prepare the tortilla dough in a bowl using directions found on my tortillas de maiz post.
• -Place Mozzarella, butter, and refried beans into a bowl and mix with hands until well mixed.
• -Turn your gas skillet to medium-high, (high if have to use an electric stove), and place a pancake skillet (we are pretending this is our comal) on top of the gas burners so it can start to get hot.
• -Wet your hands in the small bowl of water you have near you and then grab a ball of tortilla dough in your hand.
• -Flatten the dough into a flat circle using your hands and then put about 2 small spoonfuls of the bean/cheese mix in the middle.
• -Once you have placed filling in center of dough, close the dough back up using your hands to form a ball again that surrounds and covers your filling.
• -While reforming the ball, pinch off any extra dough at the top to prevent an over-sized pupusa. You want just enough dough to completely surround your filling and no more.
• -Place ball of dough with filling inside between two plastic baggies, flatten with a plate or your hands, and then peel off flattened pupusa and place onto the hot skillet.
• -Cook each side of the pupusa for about 30 seconds each, flipping total about six times so that each side gets the heat about three times.
• -Once the pupusa begins to puff up or fillings begin to ooze out of it and burn on surface, remove the pupusa from the heat and place onto a big piece of aluminum foil.
• -Repeat process until you have used up all your dough and filling. If you run out of either, just make more.
• -Serve the pupusas with curtido and red sauce.
• http://www.postresdelacipota.com/2012/09/pupusas.html.

CHEESE PUPUSAS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix the salt well into the masa harina. With your hands, knead the water into the masa harina in a few additions; work in all the water evenly. The dough will feel like stiff mashed potatoes. Lay a 12-inch square of plastic wrap or a zip-lock on a smooth work surface.
• Divide the cheese into 9 equal piles. Roll a 2-ounce ball of dough in your hands, about the size of a golf ball, and pat it out in your hand to form a disc a little larger than your palm. (If the dough is very sticky, lightly moisten or oil your hands.) Pat a pile of cheese onto the masa, leaving just a little space around the edges (cup your hand slightly if it helps). Carefully close your hand to bring the edges of the disc closer, and use your other hand to pat and pinch it together to enclose the cheese in a rough ball. Patch any holes with a little more masa, but don't worry too much - cheese that leaks out will brown deliciously in the pan. Moisten or oil the plastic wrap, and pat out the pupusa on it, forming a disc about 4 inches wide. Repeat, forming a second pupusa.
• Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, and very lightly grease it with oil. When the oil appears thin, lay the pupusas in the pan, and cook until richly browned in spots, about 4 minutes. (If you can fit 3 or 4 pupusas at a time in the pan, increase heat to medium-high.) It's O.K. if the cheese starts to bubble out. Flip the pupusas, and cook another 4 minutes, until they're browned and cooked through. Serve finished ones immediately with curtido, and repeat forming and cooking the remaining pupusas.

EL SALVADORIAN BEAN AND CHEESE PUPUSAS

Steps:

• In a small mixing bowl, combine refried beans and cheese. Set aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine 2 cups Masa with 1 ¼ cups water and ¼ tsp salt, mixing thoroughly until it is a soft dough (this dough dries out fast- hence the divided measurements. But if it starts to dry out while you are still working, you can add a touch more water as needed).
• Pinch a bit of dough off and roll it into a ball about 2 inches in diameter (about the size of a golf ball). Using your thumb, push down on the ball to make more of a "bowl". Place a spoonful of the bean and cheese mixture into the "bowl".
• Pinch off and flatten a bit more dough to cover the bowl with. Carefully flatten the filled ball to make a disc, making an effort to make it as thinly as possible- about 1/2 inch thick. This takes a lot of practice!
• Pour 1/4 cup of oil into a nonstick skillet and place as many pupusas as will fit, and cook over medium / medium- high heat for 3-5 minutes on each side, or until golden and browned. Repeat with the next batch, adding more oil if necessary. When the masa dough has run out, make another fresh batch.
• Serve with warmed tomato sauce and curtido.

BEAN AND CHEESE PUPUSAS RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Make the curtido: In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, onion, carrots, and serrano, if using. Pour the boiling water over the vegetables and toss to combine. Let sit for 10 minutes, then drain.
• In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the vinegar, oregano, and salt.
• Pour the vinegar mixture over the slaw and toss to coat. Once thoroughly mixed, transfer the curtido and any leftover liquid in the bowl to an airtight jar or container. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes, but ideally overnight. The curtido will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Make the refried black beans: Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Add the oil to the pan. Once hot, add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant and softened.
• Add the black beans, along with their liquid, to the pan and increase the heat to medium. Add the salt. Mash the beans with a potato or bean masher, ensuring no beans are left whole. Cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the beans don't immediately flood the pan when you drag a spatula across the bottom. If you prefer a perfectly smooth consistency, use an immersion blender to purée the beans in the pan, or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Season with more salt to taste, then set aside to cool completely before making the pupusa dough.
• Make the pupusa dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the masa harina and salt, then add the water. Use your hands to mix until the dough comes together with a clay-like texture; it should be elastic and not sticky. You may need to knead it for a few minutes.
• Assemble the pupusas: Once the beans have cooled completely, fold in the mozzarella cheese.
• Fill a small bowl with water and set it near your work station. Wet your hands as you work to keep the dough from sticking to your hands.
• Heat a large pan or griddle over medium-high heat for at least 5 minutes.
• While the pan heats, form the pupusas: Take a large, golf ball-sized portion (about 3½ ounces) of dough and roll into a ball, then flatten into an even round, using the fingers of your dominant hand to press the dough against the palm of your non-dominant hand (rather than smashing your palms together), about 5 inches in diameter.
• Fill the dough round with about 3 tablespoons of the bean mixture, or slightly less than the amount of masa used to make the disc. Gently fold 2 sides of the dough over the filling, then rotate and fold up the other 2 sides until the filling is completely encased. Pinch off any excess dough overlapping at the top and return to the remaining masa. Then, carefully pat out the ball between your hands into a roughly 4-inch disc. If the filling breaks through, patch it with a tiny bit of dough. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
• Lightly brush the hot pan with the vegetable oil, then place 4-5 pupusas (or as many as will fit without touching) in the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, depending on thickness, until the bottoms are golden brown. Flip and cook on the other side for 3-5 minutes more, until golden brown and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining pupusas.
• Serve the pupusas with the curtido.
• Enjoy!