After a serendipitous encounter at a random farmer's market in the LA area, Sarah and I went on a pupusa craze- three places in one night. For those unfortunate souls who have not tried the El Salvadorian delight that is a pupusa, it is basically a fluffy, doughy, and thick corn tortilla stuffed with either soft salvadorian cheese (quesillo), fried pork rind (chicharrón), chicken, or refried beans. Normally Sarah and I order a pupusa revuelta, that is a pupusa with 2 or more of the ingredients. The cheese, chicharrón, and refried beans make for an incredible hodgepodge; it's not exactly the lightest of meals though...
Curtido is a traditional and delicious accompaniment to a pupusa, and is best compared to american coleslaw- although no mayo is involved. It is comprised of pickled cabbage, carrots, onions, and lemon juice, and can be very spicy if peppers are in the jumble. Not to mention the thick, habanero salsa that is obligatory on every pupusa! Time to up your spicy food tolerance people, california style; it'll make you a better person.
Archeological excavations of Joya de Cerén, a small native village preserved by a volcanic eruption, the Pompeii of El Salvador, shows evidence that natives were eating pupsas as far back as 2,000 years ago. But as a national dish, the pupusa didn't start to diffuse throughout all of El Salvador until the 1960s, when it spread to other Central American countries as well. During the 1980's the civil war spurred many Salvadorians to emmigrate, thus exporting the pupusa to other countries, including the US.
Our favorite pupusa haunt is a dinky little "cafe" on Long Beach Blvd. The surrounding area is a bit sketchy, but don't be alarmed- that's part of the charm. Hey, it's the risk you gotta take for pupusa authenticity. Sarah was speeding by on LB transit when she originally spied the flickering neon window sign advertising those bad ass puppies. So couple days later we walked in, a little unnerved by the desertion that was LB blvd after 9pm. We were greeted warmly by an aproned rolypoly Salvadorian woman who spoke about as much english as I farsi; she was seated at one of the 5 tables, enjoying some of her curtido. But then I said those magic words: dos pupusas por favor, and she mumbled something inaudible, wiggling the little piece of overlooked cabbage on her lip. And so she set to work, but not before dutifully washing her hands. We watched as she rolled the corn dough and the cheese into a a small circle, about 3 inches in diameter. She plopped the mixed dough onto the flat grill and lightly browned both sides, until just a drizzle of the quesillo oozed onto the hot surface and fused onto the side of the pupusa creating a crunchy cheese crust. These first pupusas were simple, the only ingredient besides the corn dough being the quesillo. She served them to us, along with a large bowl of the curtido and the salsa, and we devoured them in minutes...and then ordered seconds. This time, a pupusa revuelta- with all 3 components, as we now order them today. There are quite a few other things on the menu, soups, tacos, and some Mexican specialties, but we can never bring ourselves to try anything other than a pupusa. (By the way, they're only $2)
La Amiga Pupuseria y Taqueria- 1260 Long Beach Blvd on the eastern side, just south of Anaheim St.
1 comment:
you just made me extremely hungry for some pupusa!!! You are a beautiful writer!
Post a Comment