Tuesday, March 12, 2013

El Salvador

It has taken over a month for Henwietta to process her most recent trip to El Salvador.  We’ll call it… wonderfully hellacious??? Or something.  Chalk it up to experience, I guess.  The wonderful part of the trip?  Papusas!  If you ever make it to Olocuilta, make sure to hit up Papusaria Rina.  And if you’re as lucky as little Henwietta, maybe a local will teach you how to make these delicious little gems too!
 

We had Salvadorian horchata to whet our whistles.  It was probably the least authentic traditional Salvadorian horchata known to man.  Horchata is made all over Latin America and Spain.  Each country has their little twist, and El Salvador is no acceptation.  Apparently it is pretty different from the rest; however, we took some liberties with ours.  Mostly because we had to translate blogs from Spanish, adjust the measurements, and then we couldn’t procure all of the ingredients (especially those we couldn’t translate).  I’m sure you can imagine our predicament.  But here’s what we came up with:
 
Toast 1 cup of rice, 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds, 2 tablespoons of peanuts, 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds.  And 2 tablespoons of semilla de morro…Morro seed?  Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?  Bueller?  This is really one of the main ingredients that shouldn’t be left out, as horchata salvadoreña is also known as horchata de morro.  Details, details.
 

It also calls for 2 tablespoons of cocoa beans.  We didn’t have that, so we used cocoa powder.  Then 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of nutmeg. 
 

Take your toasted mixture and blend it with about 5 cups of water.  Let it sit for a while… The longer the better.   An hour, two, three.  Then strain.  Mix in a cup each of milk and sugar.  Maybe a little less than authentic, but it kind of tasted like a peanut butter chocolate shake.  And what could be wrong with that?
 

Now to the magical moment: Papusas!!! Deceptively easy considering they are so delicious.  They can be made from rice or corn flour.  Mix the flour and water in a bowl to make dough.  Flatten out a round of the dough.  Put a little meat (in this case pulled pork) and cheese (ooey gooey queso blanco would be a great choice) in the middle and wrap up the edges. 
 

Flatten the little packet of goodness back out.
 

Toss on a flattop.
 

And eat!  Buen provecho, amigos!
 

We're mapping our travels!  Check out where we've been!

No comments:

Post a Comment