Cheese Pupusas
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups masa harina (9 ounces by weight)
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 12 ounces industrial mozzarella, grated (preferably Polly-O whole milk)
- Vegetable oil, as needed
- Curtido, for serving (see recipe)
- In a large bowl, mix the salt well into the masa harina.
- With your hands, knead the water into the masa harina in a few additions; work in all the water evenly.
- The dough will feel like stiff mashed potatoes.
- Lay a 12-inch square of plastic wrap or a zip-lock on a smooth work surface.
- Divide the cheese into 9 equal piles.
- Roll a 2-ounce ball of dough in your hands, about the size of a golf ball, and pat it out in your hand to form a disc a little larger than your palm.
- (If the dough is very sticky, lightly moisten or oil your hands.)
- Pat a pile of cheese onto the masa, leaving just a little space around the edges (cup your hand slightly if it helps).
- Carefully close your hand to bring the edges of the disc closer, and use your other hand to pat and pinch it together to enclose the cheese in a rough ball.
- Patch any holes with a little more masa, but dont worry too much cheese that leaks out will brown deliciously in the pan.
- Moisten or oil the plastic wrap, and pat out the pupusa on it, forming a disc about 4 inches wide.
- Repeat, forming a second pupusa.
- Heat a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat, and very lightly grease it with oil.
- When the oil appears thin, lay the pupusas in the pan, and cook until richly browned in spots, about 4 minutes.
- (If you can fit 3 or 4 pupusas at a time in the pan, increase heat to medium-high.)
- Its O.K.
- if the cheese starts to bubble out.
- Flip the pupusas, and cook another 4 minutes, until theyre browned and cooked through.
- Serve finished ones immediately with curtido, and repeat forming and cooking the remaining pupusas.
kosher salt, masa harina, water, mozzarella, vegetable oil
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017183 (may not work)