Salvadorian pupusas with curtido

I was craving salvadorian pupusas that I had back in LA, but since they do not sell it in Korea, I tried making my own. 

Here is the recipe. It was so delicious and tasted just like back in LA. Enjoy! 

Pupusas: 

Ingredients:

-3 cups masa harina (corn flour for making tortillas)

-1 1/2 cups warm water

-1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 cup grated quesillo (Salvadoran cheese), or substitute queso fresco, mozzarella, or farmer's cheese)

Instructions: 

1. In a large bowl, mix the masa harina with the water and salt, stirring well. Add more water if necessary to obtain a soft dough that does not crack around the edges when flattened. 
   
   
   
   
2. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic wrap, for about 15 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
3. Divide the dough into about 6 pieces. Form a ball of dough, then make an indentation in the ball. Place filling of choice in the indentation, and carefully wrap dough around the filling to seal. Flatten ball into a disk, about 1/4 inch thick, being careful to keep filling from leaking out of the edges. (this takes a little practice)
   
   
   
   Wipe a very small amount of oil onto the surface of a heavy skillet (cast iron works well). Heat the skillet over medium heat, and place the pupusas in the skillet. Allow to brown on each side, like a tortilla, flipping as necessary. (About 3 minutes each side) Remove from heat and serve warm.

Curtido:

Ingredients:

• 
  
• -1/2 small (2-pound) green cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• -1/2 medium white onion, peeled and very thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
• -2 carrots, peeled and shredded (about 1/2 cup)
• -3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• -2 teaspoons sugar
• -1 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

In a large bowl, toss together cabbage, onion, carrot, and jalapeño, if using. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, and sugar a cook over medium heat, stirring, until salt and sugar are just dissolved. Pour brine over vegetables and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for one hour before serving.

Kohdungoh (mackerel) jorim

My husband loves this dish. He even said it's the best he had so far.  

Ingredients: 

1 mackerel cleaned and cut

Korean radish

Slices of kimchi (tastes best with old kimchi)

1 large scallion

1 red pepper

1 cup of water

Sauce: 

5 tbs soy sauce 

2 tbs perilla oil (you can replace with sesame oil if you do not have perilla oil) 

3 tbs hot pepper powder (kochukaru)

2 tbs sesame seed

4 garlic cloves (ground the garlic) 

*i used a home made soy Sauce which is a little Sweet, so if you use store bought soy Sauce I would add 1 tbs Brown sugar

1 chopped scallion

Instructions:

Cut the radish about 1/2 thick and layer at the bottom of the pot as shown. 

Then layer kimchi on top as shown so that you cover all the radish. 

Then layer the cut fish ontop.

Mix all the Sauce ingredients and then pour the Sauce ontop and add the 1 cup of water after. 

Slice the scallion and red pepper ontop and cover.  I used leeks instead of scallions. 

Boil on high for 5 minutes. Then on low heat for 30 minutes. I then half convered the pot by Moving the lid and let it cook for another 20 minutes. I used a spoon to    Carefully flip the fish and moved things around so the Sauce is all over the dish and let it cook for another 10 minutes. 

Then it is ready to eat. Enjoy!