Pupusas With Cheese And Loroco Food

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.

SALTY PAPUSAS

Steps:

• You will also need 1 cup of your filling of choice (see variations).
• 1. In a large bowl, mix together the masa harina and water and knead well.
• 2. Knead in more water, one tablespoonful at a time if needed, to make a moist, yet firm dough. (It should not crack at the edges when you press down on it.).
• 3. Cover and set aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
• 4. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into 8 equal portions.
• 5. Roll each portion into a ball.
• 6. Press an indentation in each ball with your thumb.
• 7. Put about 1 tablespoon of desired filling into each indentation and fold the dough over to completely enclose it.
• 8. Press the ball out with your palms to form a disc, taking care that that the filling doesn't spill out.
• 9. Line a tortilla press with plastic and press out each ball to about 5 or 6 inches wide and about 1/4-inch thick. If you don't have a tortilla press, place the dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper and roll it out with a rolling pin.
• 10. Heat a greased skillet over medium-high flame. Cook each pupusa for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and blistered. Remove to a plate and hold warm until all pupusas are done.
• 11. Serve with curtido and salsa roja.
• 12. VARIATIONS.
• 13. This recipe uses masa harina, a special dried cornmeal flour used in making tortillas, tamales, etc. If you are able to get fresh masa, definitely use it instead. The flavor will be much fresher. Just substitute the masa harina and water with fresh masa. One pound will make about 4 to 6 pupusas depending on size.
• 14. Pupusas de Queso: With a cheese filling. Use grated quesillo, queso fresco, farmer's cheese, mozzarella, Swiss cheese or a combination. Add some minced green chile if you like.
• 15. Pupusas de Chicharrones: With a filling of fried chopped pork and a little tomato sauce. A reasonable facsimile can be made by pulsing 1 cup of cooked bacon with a little bit of tomato sauce in a food processor.
• 16. Pupusas de Frijoles Refritos: With a refried bean filling.
• 17. Pupusas Revueltas: Use a mixture of chicharrones, cheese and refried beans.
• 18. Pupusas de Queso y Loroco: With a cheese and tropical vine flower filling. Loroco can be found in jars at many Latin markets.
• 19. Pupusas de Arroz: A variety of pupusa that uses rice flour instead of corn masa.
• 20. Other Fillings: Cooked potatoes or finely minced, sautéed jalapeño peppers are also tasty fillings. Try a mixture of different fillings.
• 21. Note: The pupusa is so fundamental to the cuisine of El Salvador that the country has even declared November 13th "National Pupusa Day.".