Pupusas

Flying into San Salvador the Salvadorans on the plane were telling me "You have to eat pupusas while you are here. They are the national food and are amazing!" Of course, I thought, I'll try to but I have no idea where I'll be at or what they'll be cooking. I didn't need to look far though. The first day on the worksite the family we were building for pulled out their big grill and all the ingredients.

A pupusa is a Salvadoran staple, a griddled-cooked cake of masa (soft moistened cornmeal) stuffed with cheese and either beans, vegetables, or shredded pork. It was a simple and satisfying meal, and the pupusas were served with the traditional sides of crisp shredded pickled cabbage and homemade hot sauce (or salsa).

making pupusas with the sisters

We spent about twenty minutes trying to perfect our techniques. Take the masa in your palm and flatten it out. Then grab some beans and cheese for the middle. Pull the masa up around to cover the top and then pat it. Mine were consistently the size of large coins, not the large patties the Salvadorans made. The ladies continued making them for an hour - I couldn't even begin to count how many they had made! After cooking them on the griddle we feasted! Nothing like a traditional Salvadoran meal!