We have such a wonderful nanny in the mornings to watch Edie while Henry’s at school and I’m working.  She is from El Salvador and makes the most amazing pupusas! Have you ever had a pupusa? It’s basically a stuffed corn tortilla topped with fresh salsa (she makes her own!) and a tangy veggie slaw. They’re amazing and gluten free. Here’s how she makes them…

Photography by Liz Stanley

Step 1: First up, the slaw! Slice cabbage, onion and carrots into a bowl and add a bit of apple cider vinegar and some oregano. Let sit while you make the dough:

Step 2: You need this stuff: corn flour! Nope, nope.  Not cornmeal. I pulled out cornmeal and she looked at me like I had just called an apple a peach.  Not the same! At all! I’d never heard of this stuff before. Duh. This is how you make homemade corn tortillas (something else I need to try asap). It’s totally gluten free too.

So to make the dough you’re going to add just enough water to the corn flour so it becomes sticky, but manageable with slightly greased hands (that’s about as specific as I got from her!). You’re going to roll them into balls about the size of a lemon.

Step 3: Next up the veeeery best part. Filling! I love just cheese (monterrey or mozzarella) and shaved zucchini the best. But you can also do meat filling or cheese/zucchini and refried beans (looove those too!). At first I didn’t get why she melted the cheese and then let it cool before adding the shaved zucchini but then I realized putting dry pieces of cheese/zucchini into the middle of a pupusa was nearly impossible… keep reading…

Step 4: With slightly oiled hands, pat the dough into a pretty thick disk.

Step 5: Making a small cup with your hand, add a spoonful of the cheese and zucchini mixture to the inside and then fold the top over. This is why the cheese needs to be melted and then cooled solid into more manageable chunks.

Step 6: Adding just a tablespoon or so of oil to the pan, fry the pupusa on both sides on medium/low until the cheese starts seeping out and the outsides are slightly browned. Eat warm topped with salsa and the slaw. These things are so delicious. We make big batches of slaw/salsa and have the melted cheese/zucchini mixture all ready in the fridge for a super speedy, filling, delicious lunch!