Real talk right here. The only time I’ve ever had a pupusa was from this little pupseria in my old neighborhood in Columbia Heights. I may have (and by “may” I really mean most definitely) had a bit too much to drink at my bocce league night and the beer in my belly was crying out for sustenance. This pupuseria was very unassuming and only a block from my place so it was the perfect place to stumble into on my way home to sleep it off. I don’t remember much about that pupusa or really even liking it that much, but ever since then, I’ve thought I was due to try them again. I left that neighborhood more than a year ago and a recent trip to a DC United game where my friends claimed there were fabulous pupusas peaked my interest yet again. While I didn’t eat those at the game, it did inspire me to try and make them to represent the country of El Salvador.

As you may recall, I recently made arepas and with the exception of a different type of flour (in this case, Masa Harina, these seemed to be a very similar dish. I did some digging and my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me…these are very similar dishes with the main distinction being the type of flour. Pupusas also tend to be larger and flatter. When I made arepas, I didn’t include any filling. But for these pupusas, I stuffed them with cheese and diced jalapenos. I served with chicken and sauteed peppers and onions. I think these could have benefited from a salsa or a slaw since the end texture was a bit dry. And upon further research the color is much more like an arepa so I’m not exactly sure what I did wrong (since you would think the color consistency of the dough would be tied more to the flour than the method). Any ideas?

The recipe I used was from a street food cookbook but you can find many recipes online.

Overall Level of Effort: 1

Skill Level: Beginner

Would Make it Again? Yes, I may try again just to see if I can get a better looking end result. Perhaps next time I’ll try a different source for the recipe.

Additional Notes: I didn’t feel that this one quite worked so I may look at a different recipe to try again, given that I now have the special flour and have one attempt under my belt.