Pupusas

Build the Meal Around Pupusas

• Curtido and salsa roja, both essential
• Horchata or a cold beer
• Fried plantain

How to Make Pupusas

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1. Make the curtido first: pour boiling water over the cabbage, carrot and onion, drain immediately, then mix with the vinegar, water, sugar, oregano, chilli and salt. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, ideally overnight.

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2. Simmer the salsa ingredients in 200 ml water for 12 minutes, blend smooth, and keep warm.

   Mark done Start 12 min timer

3. Mix the masa harina, salt and warm water with your hands for 3 minutes into a soft, smooth dough that does not crack when flattened.

   Mark done Start 3 min timer

4. Rest 15 minutes, then check the texture again and add water if needed.

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5. Set a bowl of water with a splash of oil beside you and wet your hands.

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6. Take a golf-ball of dough, flatten it into a disc in your palm, and hollow the centre into a cup.

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7. Fill with a tablespoon of cheese and beans, then gather the edges up over the filling and pinch closed, sealing completely.

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8. Roll it back into a ball and pat it gently between wet palms into a disc 1 cm thick and 12 cm across, turning as you go.

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9. Cook on a dry, hot griddle for 4 minutes a side until blistered brown in patches and the cheese is molten within.

   Mark done Start 4 min timer

10. Serve immediately with curtido piled on top and salsa roja poured over.

    Mark done

Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Ingredient substitutions.

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A Few Notes

Wet hands, constantly. Dry hands and masa dough are incompatible.

Seal completely before flattening. A leak is unrecoverable once it hits the griddle.

Curtido needs at least three hours and is better after a day, so make it first.

Ingredient Swaps

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

Storing and Reheating

Cooked pupusas keep 3 days refrigerated and freeze 2 months. Reheat on a dry griddle for 3 minutes a side.

Pupusas: Your Questions Answered

Pupusas Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

Vegetarian when made without the chicharrón.

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