Arepas/Pupusas

[Beanie]

I know we have some people of different ethnic backgrounds on here so I'm wondering if anybody can tell me about these.

Arepas are Venezuelan. Like a sandwich pocket although that's a terrible way to put it. They appear to be made with white corn flour rather than just straight masa, which I'm not sure if I can track any down around here and the brand people used to recommend might contain wheat gluten... but anyway, it's a little flattened disc and you fry it, then bake it, then you slice it open and stuff it with yummies. I'm not sure if I could do a reasonable version using masa?

Pupusas are Salvadoran and kind of like a gordita. They are made with masa and the pupusa itself is filled with the, uh, toppings? Stuffings? It sounds kind of like a flat tamale and it's made on a griddle instead of steamed. This sounds like something I can definitely handle, I've made tamales and done a few other things with masa so I think I can make them.


I wish I could go somewhere and try them, then I would know what they are supposed to taste like, texture, all that stuff... but there is nowhere in town for me to get any and try them. I found out there's an Arepa house up in Chicago but I was just there and also I was busy buying Giordano's (PS, Giordano's gluten free pizza BEST THING EVER.) so I won't be having any of those. Has anybody else here eaten either of these, or better yet, made them? Because I want to make some and put them in my face.

TELL ME ABOUT AREPAS. AND TALK SLOWLY WHEN YOU DESCRIBE THE TASTE.

 

[~Jessie~]

I've never had arepas, but I've had pupusas! I really like them.

They're generally made from a rice or corn flour dough. They look like a thicker, rounder quesadilla. I've had them filled with cheese and beans, and pork. There's a sauce that you put on them, called a curtido (the one I had was spicy). I just looked it up and the curtido is generally cabbage, carrots, and vinegar. Apparently they can come with a tomato sauce instead as well.

They're GOOD. Very filling.

Do you have any "food truck Fridays" or anything like that in your area? Or, any Latino grocery stores? I'd imagine you could probably find them frozen in a Latino grocery store, but it wouldn't be the same as being able to try them fresh if you could!

 

[joce]

there is a resteraunt I've wanted to try forever that has them. Barrocos grill. Looks amazing! Think there are only two of them locally though. I drool when I just see the pics of the food.

 

[Beanie]

No big food truck event like that here unfortunately - there is a Mexican food truck but it's tortas and things like that, no pupusas or arepas (I checked hahaha.) We do have some Mexican groceries, I could try there. Nothing generically Latino so I think I'm a bit out of luck on the arepas...

I made pupusas tonight or a facsimile of hahaha. It was yummy!! I stuffed them with shredded taco seasoned chicken and cheese. It wasn't quite like a tamale because tamales are still moist from being steamed, and these were definitely more cake-like or biscuit-like maybe? Not sure how to describe them. It was nice for a change though, because normally my only real options are corn taco shells. =P Tacos are fun and all when I'm wanting something different, but it does get a little boring still. Oh, tacos again. Okay.
I might check the Mexican groceries and see if they have any frozen pupusas and see if I'm in the right direction! Either that or I'll have to visit some places up in Chicago next time I'm up that way and try to track some of both down. Although we're a university town with some ethnic blending here, it's heavily Asian more than anything else. =P