If you have read our blog before, you have probably heard us mention pupusas once or twice (or a lot more). The pupusa is El Salvador’s national dish and for a good reason; they are delicious!
Pupusas are essentially a corn or rice tortilla stuffed with any combination of beans, cheese, or pork. Sounds simple enough until you’ve seen them made (see video below). Start with a ball of corn or rice masa, stuff it with beans, cheese or pork, then pat and slap until flat. After a few minutes on the grill, the pupusa is hot and crispy.
Pupusas are not eaten alone. Curtido is cabbage and vegetables pickled in apple cider vinegar or fruit vinegar that is meant to be eaten along with the pupusas. Add some tomato sauce on top of it all to make it complete.
Pupusas, curtido and salsa are all about preference. Every person in El Salvador has a very strong opinion as to where and who has the best pupusas. Every person has their favorite kind of pupusas: just cheese, cheese and garlic, revueltas (beans, cheese and pork), made with corn masa, made with rice masa, extra crispy, etc. Some pupuserias (a pupusa restaurant) even get a little crazy and start adding things like jalapenos, carrots, avocado, chicken or octopus.
The Love & Hope kids love pupusas. When our cook, Veronica, makes pupusas at home for dinner, it is a happy day for all. Veronica’s curtido is amazing too. Days before pupusa day, she cuts up a pineapple, makes homemade vinegar with it and then pickles cabbage, carrots, onions, cauliflower with lots of oregano.
One more interesting fact about pupusas: no forks allowed. Pupusas are eaten with your hands! The Love & Hope kids always get a giggle out of foreign visitors who try to dig in with a fork and knife. Pupusas are messy, but that’s what makes them wonderful!
Pupusas are unique to El Salvador. They can be found in other Central American countries but El Salvador takes special pride in this dish. There are pupuserias on every corner, sometimes five or more of them in a row! We love pupusas at Love & Hope Children’s Home. Have you had them? What is your favorite kind?
Photo credit: Anna Zimmerman