Hispanic Heritage · El Salvador

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San Salvador · Mejicanos · Soyapango · Santa Tecla · Antiguo Cuscatlán · Los Planes de Renderos

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Pupusas revueltas con curtido

Pupusas with curtido and salsa. Presentation may differ from this recipe. JMRAFFi · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized source thumbnail; display may crop to fit.

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Explore El Salvador through pupusas: griddled corn cakes with a filling tucked inside. This version pairs pork, beans, and cheese with curtido and tomato salsa, so every bite brings soft masa, richness, and a crisp tang.

La Gente

Shaping is a skill learned by doing. Keep the dough moist, seal the filling carefully, and let the comal build color. Pass the curtido and salsa at the table so everyone can find their own balance.

Sabor

The center and west cook mild and warm: corn, cheese, pork fat, and beans, with the curtido bringing vinegar and oregano, and the salsa bringing tomato, garlic, and a little cumin. Loroco is the herb no jar replaces. Heat is a bottle of chile on the counter and is rarely reached for.

Spice DNA · Sweet low · Acid medium · Herb medium · Smoke low · Heat low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the chicharrón filling and the salsa roja. Adds a savory garlic base.
Oregano, whole. In the curtido. Essential. Curtido without oregano is coleslaw.
Cumin, ground. A pinch in the chicharrón and the salsa.
Black Pepper, ground. In the filling.
Onion Powder. In the salsa.
Crushed Red Pepper. For the curtido, the way Santa Ana likes it.

From your market: masa harina (instant corn masa), quesillo or a mild melting cheese with a little queso fresco mixed in, refried red beans, pork shoulder or pork skin for the chicharrón, cabbage, carrots, onion, white vinegar, tomatoes, and loroco if a Salvadoran market is near you. Badia does not sell the loroco.

Cocina

Pupusas revueltas con curtido

Corn pupusas filled with cheese, beans, and chicharrón, with soured cabbage and tomato salsa. Curtido the day before. Pupusas as fast as you can shape them.

Makes 12

Curtido, the day before

½ head cabbage, shredded fine
2 carrots, grated
½ onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp Badia Oregano, whole
½ tsp Badia Crushed Red Pepper, optional
¾ cup white vinegar
½ cup water
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar

Salsa roja

4 tomatoes, chopped
½ onion, chopped
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
¼ tsp Badia Cumin, ground
Pinch of Badia Oregano, whole
Salt

Chicharrón filling

12 oz pork shoulder with some fat, cooked until tender and crisp, or fried pork rinds
1 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil
½ tomato, ½ green pepper, ¼ onion
¼ tsp Badia Cumin, ground
¼ tsp Badia Black Pepper, ground
Salt

The pupusas

3 cups masa harina
2½ cups warm water, about
1 tsp salt
1 cup refried red beans
2 cups cheese, grated
Oil for your hands

Curtido. Pour boiling water over the cabbage and drain after a minute. Toss with the carrot, onion, oregano, chile if using, vinegar, water, salt, and sugar. Refrigerate overnight. It keeps two weeks and gets better.
Salsa roja. Simmer everything 15 minutes. Blend smooth. It should be thin enough to pour. Keep warm.
Chicharrón. Grind the cooked pork with the garlic, tomato, pepper, onion, cumin, and pepper in a processor to a coarse paste. Salt.
The masa. Mix masa harina and salt. Add warm water a little at a time and knead until it is soft and smooth and does not crack when you press it. Cover and rest 10 minutes.
Shape. Oil your hands. Take a ball of masa the size of a small orange and press a well into it with your thumb. Put in a spoon of beans, a spoon of chicharrón, and a pinch of cheese. Pinch the masa closed over the filling, then pat it flat between your palms, turning, into a disc about 5 inches across and ½ inch thick. Do not worry about the small tears; a little cheese leaking out and burning on the comal is what a pupusa is supposed to do.
Cook. Hot dry comal or skillet, lightly oiled. 3 to 4 minutes a side, until blistered and gold, with the cheese bubbling at the seams.
Serve. Curtido on top, salsa over that, or on the side for the purists, and eat it with your hands. San Miguel would want mayonnaise. Let them.

Pueblos del Centro y Occidente

San Salvador · Mejicanos · Soyapango · Santa Tecla · Antiguo Cuscatlán · Los Planes de Renderos · Olocuilta · Zacatecoluca · Cojutepeque · Ilobasco · Apopa · Santa Ana · Chalchuapa · Ahuachapán · Ataco · Juayúa · Nahuizalco · Izalco · Sonsonate · La Libertad · El Tunco