Cheese Pupusas Food

PUPUSAS

Steps:

• Combine tomato sauce, water, cilantro, green bell pepper, onion, crushed garlic, bouillon cube, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook and stir until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. Let salsa roja cool for 10 minutes.
• Fill a blender halfway with the salsa roja. Cover and hold lid down with a potholder; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. Pour into a bowl. Repeat with remaining salsa roja. Return to saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes more stirring occasionally. Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour, and refrigerate.
• Place cabbage and carrots in a large bowl. Add 4 cups boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain well. Mix in vinegar, scallions, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Chill curtido until serving.
• Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until almost fully cooked and not yet crispy, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer bacon and grease (if desired) to a food processor. Add tomatoes, quartered green bell pepper, Monterey Jack cheese, and minced garlic. Puree and season the chicharron with salt.
• Mix masa harina and 1/2 cup water together in a bowl by hand. Add the remaining water slowly, about 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition, until dough is moist but still firm. Cover with a wet towel.
• Heat 1/2 cup oil a large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Take a golf ball-sized piece of dough and roll into a ball in your hands. Make a hole in the dough ball with your thumb; put a small amount of chicharron inside the hole, close it up, and flatten the ball with your hands into a thick tortilla shape. Place pupusa in the skillet and fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining dough and chicharron.
• Serve each pupusa topped with 2 tablespoons of curtido and 1 tablespoon of salsa roja.

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.

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:

• Mix the masa harina, water into a dough which is soft but not sticky. Be prepared to add more flour if necessary. If it is too dry, add more water.
• To make a 3 inch round pupusa, take about half a cup of dough and roll it into a ball. flatten with your hand.
• Put the filling in the centre [in this case, cheese, cilantro, salt and pepper].
• Work the edges up over the filling and again form a ball, completely enclosing the filling.
• Flatten each ball to about 1/4 inch or less and cook the pupusas on a hot, lightly oiled griddle for about 3 minutes per side, or until both sides are lightly browned.
• Serve warm.