Pupusas are El Salvador’s national dish, so definitely needed to try them! They’re thick corn cakes with all kinds of fillings – especially popular are cheese, beans, or pork. I stopped at La Colonia, a Latin corner store, and found a great variety of frozen pupusas. I decided to go with the cheese and loroco, since that ingredient is totally new to me – it’s a vine with edible flower buds that’s found across Central America.

Normally pupusas are eaten with curdito (a spicy slaw) but I’ve also read that they’re can also be eaten with crema, or other sides. I popped two pupusas into a pan with a little oil – they cooked up really quick and easily.

I really like the distinctive taste of corn flour here, and the mild cheese inside balances with a bit of the tang from the crema. I can’t really pick out anything distinctive that would be loroco – I may need to taste test against plain cheese ones.

The crema is mildly tangy creme fraiche – almost like a cream version of cheese curds in terms of flavour. I think I’ll definitely make curdito to pair with next time (or get some pre-made), I see why sharp and spicy would definitely go great with these!

Addendum: I cooked up the rest of the pupusas, and while I didn’t have the ingredients on hand for curdito, I improvised and had them with crema, kimchi, and sliced tomato. Yum!