This recipe is a part of my Global Vegan Challenge where each week I research and develop a recipe from a different country in the world. Many of these recipes are veganized based off their omnivore counterparts. While not all of these recipes are a one for one what you’ll find in their country, I hope you’ll still find them delicious!
Recipe Notes
- I recommend preparing the curtido a day in advance so it can pickle overnight. Same day is fine as well, it just won’t be as strong.
- My curtido is a bit non-traditional as I included cilantro and carrot greens to add a bit more color. Feel welcome to omit.
- This recipe produces far more curtido than you will need, approximately 8 to 10 cups of pickles. Feel welcome to half for this recipe, or do as I had done and use it in my cooking almost daily.
- The yield of your pupusas will vary greatly depending how thick your masa dough is, and how much filling you put inside. In case you wind up with an excess of filling I’d recommend having more masa on hand so you can make more dough, or just save the excess filling for use in another meal.
Vegan Pupusas
Details
10 to 20 pupusas
60 minutes
30 to 45 minutes
Print
Ingredients
- Curtido (Pickles)
1/2 Small Head of Cabbage (~5 cups)
4 cups White Vinegar
3 cups Carrots, shredded
1 Yellow Onion
1/2 cup Cilantro, packed (optional)
1/2 cup Carrot Greens, packed (optional)
5 tablespoons Salt
- Pupusa Filling
2 15.5 ounce Cans Black Beans
2 Jalapenos
1 Yellow Onion
1 Tomato
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (plus additional oil for cooking)
1 teaspoon Salt
Vegan Cheese (optional)
- Pupusa Dough
3 cups Masa Flour
2 1/2 cups Water
2 teaspoons Salt
Directions
- Curtido
- Slice cabbage, onion, and onion very thinly. Grate or julianne carrots, and mince cilantro and carrot greens (if using). Place in a large bowl and set aside.
- Fill up a large pot of water and bring it to a boil (enough water that would fill the bowl your vegetables are in). Once boiling pour over the vegetable mixture. Allow to set for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Once the time is up, train the water from the vegetable mixture. Add vingear and salt. Toss well then pack into jars with liquid and allow to pickle in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Pupusa Filling
- Dice yellow onion and tomato, and mince jalapeno with seeds. Set aside. Drain and rinse black beans and set aside.
- Heat up a pan over medium heat. Once up to temperature add vegetable oil and onions. Cook until onions begin to turn translucent.
- Add jalapeno and tomato. Cook until tomatoes being to soften, then fold in black beans and salt. Saute for 5 to 7 minutes, then remove from heat until ready to use.
- Pupusa Dough
- Mix together masa and salt in a large bowl. Slowly add water to dough until a playdough like texture is achieved. Do not over water, but if you do you can slowly sprinkle additional masa to help get the correct hydration.
- Assembly
- Take a little larger than a golf ball amount of masa dough and roll it into a ball in your hand. Flatten it into a disc, no thicker than 1/4 inch.
- While holding the disc in your hand, spoon in a small amount of pupusa filling and vegan cheese (if using). Gently pinch the edges of the pupusa, closing the filling inside. Gently reshape into a ball, and then slowly flatten back into a disc shape (example shaping on YouTube here). Set aside and repeat until you’ve used all your dough or filling.
- Heat up a pan on medium heat. Once up to temperature brush a small amount of vegetable oil onto the pan. Place enough pupusas in the pan to fill the bottom, leaving space between them. Cover and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Uncover and flip pupusas, allowing to cook for another 2-3 minutes on the other side covered. Times may vary more or less based off your stove temperature, but you’re going for a golden color. Repeat this process, re-applying oil as needed until all pupusas are cooked.
- Once all pupusas are cooked, enjoy them served hot topped with curtido. Enjoy!
As always, quick thoughts on the dish post recipe development from the Twitch stream.
