Most of us know pupusas. Those delicious, griddle-cooked masa discs filled with cheese and other things like chicharron or loroco flowers that are eaten with piles of pickled cabbage, and smothered in a tomato salsa. They always hit the spot.
However, there is a lesser-known pupusa style that only first-generation Salvadorans and true pupusa lovers know about: pupusas made with rice flour.
And dare I say...they may be better than the corn ones?
Rice flour changes the pupusa game and many Salvadorans will even go as far as saying “once you go rice, you never go back.” In El Salvador, the metric by which pupuserias are judged by is how good their rice pupusas are — not their corn ones. Back in the homeland, it’s customary for the server to ask patrons while ordering if they want the pupusas “de arroz o de maiz.” Rice, or flour?
In Los Angeles, they can be found in the streets near MacArthur Park and your neighborhood Salvadoran restaurants, as well as a few Honduran places. But only if you are in the know and ask nicely while you order.