El Salvador Food: Papusas

Recipe of Papusas from El Salvador

These are very popular in El Salvador.  Everybody loves them and they are not difficult to make.  You serve them with a spicy Curtido.  A Papusa is just a stuffed tortilla.  And you can make them with different fillings, making thus a very different meal and with lots of fun too!

Ingredients:

3 Cups flour
1 ½ cups of hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil (enough to fry them)
3 cups of grated cheese
or
pork filling, or grounded meat filling, or grounded ham filling or
filling made with ham and cheese, or many other variations you want to make up!

Procedure:

In a bowl, put the flour and salt, add slowly the hot water, mixing all the time.  You should get a soft dough. Knead it as to make little balls. Make balls the size of a golf ball. Put them all in a tray, cover them and let them stand for a while, maybe an hour.
Then put each ball in you hand (previously wet your hands), and flatten the little ball, letting the sides out from the palm of your hand.  In the middle fill in with the cheese, and then bring the sides up and close the little ball again. Once the ball is formed, flatten it carefully with both hands.

Put enough oil in the frying pan so that the papusas don’t stick to the pan, and fry them until they are slightly brown on each side.  Keep them warm until you serve them, and you should put in the same dish besides the Papusa a portion of Curtido.
Just delicious!!!

You can try with different fillings, as much as your imagination lets you.  In the kitchen it’s lots of fun to create, investigate and try different flavors and tastes!