Enchiladas

Every week my host mom, Melida, makes enchiladas to sell in the community. Now there are these types of enchiladas, but that is not boat we ride down here in El Salv. The enchiladas we have down here are a little different. Here is a step by step tutorial on how to make enchiladas, Salvo style.

Step one: Prep the curtido (or cabbage topping eaten with just about everything down here) (basically its cole slaw haha)

Step two: Prep the veggies

Host sister Evania peeling and dicing potatoes and guisquil (a squash like veggie) 

Cooking said veggies with bullion until tender

Step three: Prep the masa (or dough that makes tortillas and the base layer for our enchiladas)

The pink stuff is the masa. Usually it is more of beige, but for enchiladas color is added. 

Step four: Create balls of masa to be smooshed by the masa smoosher (no idea what it is actually called haha)

Smooshed.

Step five: Deep fry masa circles

Step six: Top with cooked veggies

Step seven: Add curtido

Step eight: Add salsa blanca and salsa rojo (probably ketchup and mayo, but who knows for sure?)

Step nine:Add crumbled queso duro*

Step ten: Eat!

Host mom, Melida, indulging in an enchilada :)

It is an odd mixture of flavors, but surprisingly delicious. Don't knock it till ya try it! A quarter will get you two enchiladas. I usually get two quarters worth, and its perfect for dinner. People in the community gobble (literally) this stuff up. Melida usually runs out of supplies before she runs out of customers. I put an estimated cost of supplies at about five bucks, and tonight she sold about $8 worth. Meaning she gained about $3, not a lot, but hey, every bit counts.

*Queso Duro is a hard, very salty, terribly smelly cheese. This is the *only* way I will eat queso duro. Totally grosses me out any other way.












Also I just got a stove! Only one of the burners works, but hey that is better than the none I had before. And it was free! I had to buy a tank of gas for it which cost me $15.70. Now, that may not seem like a lot, but in January the government tripled the price of gas from $5 to $15. For famlies who are struggling to get by down here, that is a HUGE jump. But here it is... Now I just need a table haha