Lakshmi Canteen: Vegetarian Pupusas

I am a great fan of few shows on Food Network. Recently when I was watching "Diners, Drive- In's and Dives", Pupusas were featured in one of the episodes. I was amazed at how he made them. Till then I had never heard of it. So I decided to make Vegetarian version. It did turn out quite amazing and we both loved it a lot. Hence I thought of sharing the recipe.

Pupusas are made by stuffing the masa. They are either stuffed with cheese, meat, refried beans. I decided to stuff my most favorite beans - black beans. They turned out very tasty. Do try making them. The process looks little involved but trust me its worth every minute of your effort. Please let me know if you give this a try.

Ingredients:

Shredded Pepper jack Cheese - 3/4 cup
Oil - For Pan frying

For the Dough:

Maseca Corn Masa Mix - 1 cup
Hot water - Little less than 3/4 cup
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

For Black Bean Mixture:

Cooked (or canned) Black beans, drained - 1 cup
Onion, medium sized - 1/2
Olive oil - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Cayenne pepper powder - To taste
Lime juice - 1 tsp
Salt & Pepper - To taste
Water - 1/4 cup

Procedure:

I prepared the guacamole and Pica de gallo beforehand and sticked them in the refrigerator until required.
Shred the cheese and set it aside.

For making black bean mixture:

Chop the onions and set it aside. Then heat oil in a pan. Once hot, add the chopped onion and fry it until it turns translucent.

Then add cumin powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix and continue frying the mixture for half a minute.

Then add in the cooked black beans along with water.

Let this mixture cook until most of the moisture evaporates. Then turn off the heat. Squeeze in lime juice and cover this mixture and set it aside until required.

For preparing Dough:

Before writing down the procedure, let me write few things required to make tortillas.

Tortilla Press - I recommend buying a tortilla press if you plan making corn tortillas on regular basis. If you don't want to invest on it then you can always use a large plate or pie dish to press out the dough.

Zip loc/Parchment paper - Always line your tortilla press with zip loc (cut open one or two side of it) or parchment paper (2 square pieces of it).

Take masa, salt and oil in a bowl.

Mix well and then hot water little at a time. Mix with a spoon . Once it comes together mix with your hands until you get a non sticky, smooth dough. Keep it covered and let it sit for five minutes.

Then divide the dough into six equal portions and smoothen them between your palms.

Now line the tortilla press with a zip loc (or parchment paper) and place one of the dough ball in the zip loc.

Then press it.

The dough ball takes a beautiful round shape.

Transfer the tortilla on a parchment paper or silicone mat. Then repeat with another dough ball and place them side by side (Each pupusas requires two rolled corn tortilla. This is one way of making pupusas).

Divide the black bean mixture into three equal portions. Then spread one portion on one of the rolled corn tortilla, as shown below.

Then sprinkle shredded cheese on the black bean mixture as shown below.

Now gently place the plain corn tortilla which was besides it.

Then slowly start pinching the dough along the circumference so as to form a pocket.

Once done, smoothen it carefully so that the stuffed mixture doesn't get a chance to come out while pan frying.

Repeat the process to make two more pupusas. Once done, spread some oil on a pre heated skillet and place the prepared pupusas. Spread some oil on the surface too.