Salvadoran Cuisine

[RAHiggins1]

My neighbor who is an immigrant from El Salvador, came over and helped me weed the massive amount of crabgrass that invaded my garden last week. We had only waved and maybe exchanged an "Ola!" before this and we've lived next door to each other for going on 5 years. We exchanged a lot of information that morning and now know a lot more about each other. I think we will make good friends as well as neighbors. Mardo, that is his name, is a line cook and sunday kitchen manager at a restaurant near Lenox Mall here in Atlanta.

I'm planning on thanking him for his help by sharing in the bounty of fruits (and vegetables) of our efforts. But I'd also like to do something for him and his family and maybe become more involved with them socially. To that extent I think that I need to learn more about Salvadorans and for me that starts with what they eat. I did some searching on the wide wide world of interweb and my usual friend Wikipedia had some good solid basic information, but I was not really able to find a great deal on Salvadoran Cuisine.

To begin with, can anyone post recipes for the following;

Pupusas

Curtido

Quesadilla

Tamales

Empanadas

Arroz en leche

Gallo en chicha

[brucesw]

Here's one link that I have. I've only made the curtido. I like it coarsely grated/chopped and fresh rather than slightly fermented.

Re: the tamales - they vary greatly at different pupuserias I've visited. The best to me are the very creamy ones, like very creamy mashed potatoes but tasting of corn. I understand that necessitates some straining involved in the process which is not reflected in this recipe. A tamal de elote should be served with crema Salvadorena. Tamales de puerco o pollo are served with salsa rojo, at least around here.

Re: the empanadas - in El Salvador as I understand it that refers to plantain stuffed with milk cream and deep fried; a small meat pie is a pastelito (sp?).

Edited July 11, 2008 by brucesw (log)

[gfron1]

I made a Chihuahuan meal for my Up The Street Neighbor a while back and while she appreciated the effort, it obviously couldn't live up to her standards. So, I took another tact. I've been having her teach me her cuisine. Its been a blast on both ends - I love learning it, and she loves passing on that knowledge. She, in fact, is the one who will be teaching our tamale & tortilla workshop when eGulleters come to the Hatch Chile Fest.

[markemorse]

I may have imagined this, but I thought that the Sept 2007 Gourmet had some kind of decently-sized article on Salvadorian food....

Edited July 10, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[piazzola]

I also heard the Salvadoreans are fond of Honk Kong's Chow Mein and developed their own version