Clean chicken pupusas and "fried" plantains

This recipe came to me when I found another for clean tortillas. I thought, well pupusas are made with the same "masa" why not give it a try? The masa is made from quinoa and brown rice flour so it is not as pliable. The hardest part was kneeding the dough. It definitely required lots of elbow grease. I am going to have to tweek the recipe a bit, but here's what I have so far:

Curtido (cabbage topping)
1/2 cabbage sliced thinly
4 thin slices red onion
2 carrots, julienned
(could just buy coleslaw mix to save time)
1 tsp dried oregano
Distilled vinegar to taste
Combine first 3 ingredients then blanch in hot water, remove and drain, cool in refrigerator.
Once cool add vinegar and oregano to taste.

For the tomato sauce I used Rotel's low sodium spicy tomato sauce.

Masa:
4c quinoa flour
3/4c brown rice flour
1 tsp salt (I used 'low sodium' salt)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups hot water, added 3/4 at a time

Mix all ingredients, but only 3/4 water, begin to combine and kneed. Add water a splash at a time as needed. If needed add more hot water, just add a little at a time until masa becomes manageable. It also helped me to keep a little bit of oil on my hands.

Pinch of a piece and mold into ball, then flatten in your hand. If you have a rolling pin or tortilla maker, this would be a lot easier, just make sure you roll/flatten on plastic sheet so it's easier to pull off. Then fill center with filling. I used pan grilled chicken breast that I shredded up. (no seasoning at all) then sprinkled a pinch of low fat mozzarella just for moisture. The next step is up to you. I pinched the dough together and formed a taco, then wet my hands and slowly started to form the pupusa. However. I think this would be easier if you just made another "tortilla" and added it on top and just pinched the edges shut. Then on a hot skillet with 1 tbsp coconut oil, place pupusa, cook on each side about 5-7 mins or until completely browned. The coconut oil will give it a golden brown color. Flip and repeat. Remove and top with curtido and tomato sauce.


Like I said, I used pan grilled chicken breast that I shredded up as filling, but you could use beans, cheese, peppers, pork, etc.

NOTE: This masa recipe also great for clean tortillas, and if made thicker even small pizza crusts. It has a slightly sweet taste so when making pupusas make sure you keep the dough thin. :)

Plantains:
Make sure to buy the ripest (black) ones for sweeter plantains.
Slice and fry in sauce pan with 1 tbsp coconut oil (may need to add more as needed) over med-high heat until golden brown on both sides. Top with fat free plain Greek yogurt.

Enjoy!

~wL