| Well, I know what's in them, but I don't know the exact recipe.
My husband (the chef) is from El Salvador, and we LOVE pupusas.
But, as creative as he is, the women in his family always made the
pupusas (it's kind of a "social" thing, as well as an "eating"
thing), so his aren't quite as good as the REAL thing.
Anyway:
Masa Harina is the base (corn product, like meal, but much finer).
Mix the masa with water until it's moist enough to form a thin
patty. Fill with cheese (homemade Salvadorean cheese is best, but
pretty hard to find). Motzarella or jack would do. You can do
any combination of cheese, refried beans, and pork. The pork
they use is cooked until it's super-crispy (don't ask me what part
of the pig they use.....). Then make another patty from the masa
mixture and pinch around the edges so it's all sealed. From what
I remember from my only "social pupusa making lesson" is there is
some trick to making one patty and filling and forming it all in
one piece, but I got the remedial lesson for GRINGAS.
Then put the formed/filled patty on the skillet and fry it until
it's browned on both sides. I'm sure the REAL thing is fried in
some sort of lard (which I don't want to know about). I think
veg. oil will work fine.
Sorry I can't be more specific. They sure are wonderful little
treats....but we always get ours out. There are lots of
PUPUSARIAS here in Los Angeles---one of the good things about this
place!
Maybe next time you eat them out you can get the recipe??? If you
do, I'd love to know how far off we are!
Happy Eating,
Linette Herrera
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