By the Mixed Mag Editorial Team
Maya Renee Castro (TV/Film/Theater Editor)
Recipe: Homemade Pupusas with Salsa Roja and Curtido
Ingredients:
- Pupusas-
- 4 cups masa harina (corn flour), or more to taste
- 2 cups water, or as needed
- 1 cup grated mozzarella
- 1 can refried beans
- 1 bag of Lorco
- ½ cup vegetable oil for frying
- Salsa Roja-
- 4 cups plain tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- 4 bunches fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 cube chicken bouillon (can use vegetable bouillon for vegetarians)
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- Curtido-
- ½ head cabbage, shredded
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- ½ cup red vinegar
- 3 eaches scallions, minced
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 pinched crushed red pepper flakes
Directions:
- Step 1
Combine tomato sauce, water, cilantro, green bell pepper, onion, crushed garlic, bouillon cube and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook and stir until vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. Let salsa roja cool for 10 minutes.
- Step 2
Fill a blender with the salsa roja, hold down the lid and blend. Pour into a bowl. Return to saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes more stirring occasionally. Let cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Step 3
Place cabbage and carrots in a large bowl. Add 4 cups boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain. Mix in vinegar, scallions, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Chill until ready to serve
- Step 4
Warm up the refried beans and set aside in a small bowl. While also putting the mozzarella and lorco in their own small bowls so you can use later.
- Step 5
Mix masa harina and ½ cup water together in a bowl by hand. Add the remaining water slowly, about 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each is added, until dough us moist but still firm. Cover with a damp towel.
- Step 6
Heat ½ cup oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Step 7
Take a golf ball piece of dough and roll into a ball. Make a hole in the dough with your thumb; put a small about of refried beans or mozzarella or refried beans and mozzarella or mozzarella and lorco (any combination of filling that you want). Close it up and flatten the ball into a thick tortilla. You can also flatten the ball by putting the ball between two pieces of plastic wrap and then pressing down on the bal (a trick my grandma taught me). Place the pupusa in the pan and fry until each side is golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat until all the dough and fillings are used up.
- Step 8
Serve each pupusas with the curtido and salsa roja on top and enjoy! *must be eaten with your hands no matter what anyone else says*
Growing up, my grandma, who I called Lita (because I couldn’t pronounce abuelita), would take me to her favorite pupusa spot. The spot is called Izalco, you can find it in Woodside Queens, NY. Over the years this spot slowly became my favorite spot and I would constantly ask Lita to take me there whenever I came to visit her. The spot also holds a special place in my heart because it was my first introduction to my El Salvadorian culture. Being mixed ( El Salvadorian, Puerto Rican and Trinidadian) and also raised in a small town in New Jersey with a mainly white education and population, I started to understand my culture by being introduced to traditional food. I loved going to Izalco to get some pupusas and horchata, to try new salvadorian places with Lita (to secretly judge and compare them to Izalco), or to bring my close friends to Izalco to share my culture with them. Although we loved Izalco and Lita knew the owners so personally they treated us like family, it was an extra special treat when she made me pupusas from scratch. It was a rare moment in the kitchen because she usually enjoyed spending our time outside walking around the neighborhood, and she claimed her mothers pupusas, who passed before I was born, were way better then hers. But I still loved her pupusas and always wanted her to teach me how to cook them one day to maybe make a family cookbook to pass down to future generations. But it never happened. Fast forward to when I came back to the city for college, I started visiting Lita once a week or every two weeks to have breakfast or lunch. She is a staple in my life here in New York. However, when Covid hit, I had to stop visiting her in fear of giving the sickness to her, since she is at a high risk being 80 years old. We would do video calls over Whatsapp just so we could see each other, but it wasn’t the same. I was dying to have breakfast or lunch with her, dying to go get some pupusas and to finally learn how to make them. Honestly just dying to be around her. So on Mother’s Day I suggested a family Whatsapp video call where we all cook separate meals but “eat together.” It went over well and to pay homage to our matriarch, Esther Pineda (Lita), we all cooked pupusas… My father’s were the best, my uncle’s were a little fancier, and mine were definitely a good first attempt, but not anything like Lita’s or the ones at Izalco’s. However, trying to learn to cook one of my culture’s foods filled me with joy. I crave pupusas and miss Lita all the time. I hope to see her soon, and I hope the recipe I used above brings you something tasty to eat. From my very small family cookbook to yours, enjoy, and always eat with love in your heart and memories in your head…
Kimber Monroe (Operations Director/ Marketing Director)
Recipe: Breakfast Sausage Stirfry
Ingredients:
- Trader Joes’ Chicken Apple Sausages
- Trader Joes’ French Bread
- Bell Peppers (red, orange, green and yellow)
- Scallion
- Sazon seasoning
- Olive Oil
- Butter
Directions
- With a cutting board, dice the bell peppers and chop a stem of scallion.
- Slice two links of the Trader Joes’ sausages
- Take a stove top pan and preheat. Pour some olive oil into the pan.
- After heating the pan and getting olive oil in the pan, throw the bell peppers, scallion and sausages into the pan.
- Take sazon and add to the mix.
- Stir everything in the pan for a couple minutes until the sausage is well cooked.
- For a little extra umph, heat up another large stovetop pan with butter
- Add two slices of trader joes’ bread and toast both sides until they are both toasted to a perfect, buttery golden color.
- Pop it on a plate and enjoy breakfast.
As you can see above, I’m not a cook. Or not until very recently. With the pandemic and living in a suburb of Northern California for two months, it forced me to challenge myself into learning recipes/making my own meals on the spot. I personally have always been very afraid of the kitchen (whereas my brothers were totally comfortable whipping up gourmet meals). Working in a restaurant was always convenient as I got older, as I would just eat family meal or work doubles/offer to train new employees to cash in on a staff meal. I also always aimed to date people who knew how to cook (lol), but now I’m really starting to grow into my own. I’m starting to gain confidence in the kitchen that I thought would never exist and even started cooking for my roommates when I make dinner! This recipe is for all my honeys who aren’t wifey material in the kitchen. I’m here to tell you that I see your efforts, I admire you and we are doing the best we can. (And f*ck Ubereats).
Carolina Meurkens (Editor-in-Chief/ Prose Editor/ Health, Sex & Wellness Editor)
Recipe: Heirloom Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella & Peach Summer Salad
Ingredients:
- For this recipe, you’re going to want to find the freshest ingredients possible (it’ll really make a difference!). Head to your local farmers market and pick out these ingredients and set out for your recipe:
- 2-3 heirloom tomatoes (depending on their size)
- 3 peaches
- 2 avocados
- Fresh mozzarella
- Handful of basil
- Handful of cherry tomatoes
- Olive oil & balsamic vinegar
Directions:
- Wash all of your fresh produce including basil leaves!
- Slice a large heirloom tomato into thin pieces and place it in the fridge for a few hours so it firms up.
- Slice peaches and avocados into thin slices
- Cut up a small handful of cherry tomatoes
- Put together your ingredients on a plate
- Pull apart fresh mozzarella with your hands and disperse evenly among your ingredients
- Add fresh basil
- Season with salt, black pepper, olive oil & balsamic vinegar
- Toss your salad gently to get your ingredients to absorb dressing and let your salad sit for a few minutes for ultimate flavorfulness
Growing up in NYC, I was a child of Chinese food, pizza, and my mom’s home cooked meals. My mom always prioritized buying quality food and experimenting with fun easy recipes. When I started living on my own five years ago, I fell in love with trying new recipes and stretching my cooking muscles. When I met my partner, food was one of the things we bonded over. Ron is really passionate about eating fresh quality ingredients that are locally sourced and it’s totally changed the way I look at food. During quarantine, one of our favorite activities to do together has been taking the beautiful hilly drive up to Annapolis, Maryland to go to the Amish Market and buy fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, and meat. My friend Gianna posted this recipe on IG (her beautiful photo is shown below) and I had to make it after our weekly market run. We paired it with rib-eye steak and enjoyed it together on our roof at sunset.
Citrine Ghraowi (Politics Editor)
Recipe: Egyptian Molokhia
Serving Size: 6 Time: 30mins Difficulty: easyPrint
Ingredients:
- 2 frozen packages of diced Molokhia (about 240 calories total)
- Note: Molokhia also comes as whole leaves (even if frozen). You do not want this unless you are making a different kind of preparation such as a Lebanese or Vietnamese version.
- 6-8 crushed garlic cloves (about 18 – 24 calories)
- 4 cups of chicken broth / chicken flavored vegetable broth / equivalent chicken bullion cubes (about 20 cal.) Note: You can also use beef broth, but only if the beef broth is light and freshly made. I wouldn’t recommend canned beef broth.
- 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil (120 calories)
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt and then add to taste (if you use bullion cubes, they may already be salty enough)
- A pinch of fresh ground black pepper.
- Optional, but recommended: White rice and/or toasted pita bread (about 150 cal. per 1/4 cup of rice or 160 cal. per half a large pita)
Directions located here: https://homeisakitchen.com/2013/04/25/molokhia-soup-recipe/
This is my absolute favorite dish of all time and EVERYONE makes fun of me for it. It’s a super easy and frequently eaten dish in Egypt (where my mother grew up after having to leave Palestine), so to most people it’s nothing special. For me, however, it reminds me of all the summers I used to spend visiting my family back in Cairo. Everytime I’m back home in Texas to visit my mother she knows exactly what to make and it will never get old to me. Summers in Cairo hold a very special place in my heart as it was the city where I shared endless laughs and late nights with my cousins, so it comes as no surprise that having a bit of that to hold onto makes this dish all the more tastier (but still tasty to begin with- I promise!)
Joana Meurkens (Art Director/ Music Editor)
Recipe: Mussels in White Wine
Ingredients:
- 1 lb sustainably sourced mussels
- 2 bottles of white wine
- One large white onion
- 5 cloves of garlic
- Sprigs of rosemary, oregano, and thyme
- Black pepper (freshly ground is best)
- Salt
- Red pepper flakes
- Dijon mustard
- Parsley
- Olive oil
- Parmesan
Directions:
- Smash garlic and chop finely, while preheating a large skillet add oil to coat the bottom the pan. Add chopped garlic, red pepper flakes, and ground pepper and let heat for 30 sec on medium.
- Pour a glass of wine.
- Add a whole thinly sliced white onion and a heaping spoon of dijon mustard to the skillet and let the onions cook down for 5-10 minutes. Add sprigs of herbs and stir often.
- When onions are cooked down (but well before browned), add ½ bottle of wine and let simmer.
- Pour another glass of wine.
- Lower the heat, add salt and continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes with a lid, stirring occasionally.
- After cleaning mussels, add them to the skillet and simmer with the lid for at least three minutes or until they are all fully open.
- Pour third glass.
- Top with chopped parsley and parmesan, serve by removing lid for dramatic effect.
I am in no way shape or form a cook, but I sure as hell do have some amazing friends who are. Food for me is all about community and the moments that you share with those around you. This recipe is from my friend Emma, who not only is an amazing cook but a brilliant friend/person. In quarantine I found myself fantasizing about all of the meals that I shared with those close to me, and this was one that kept replaying in my head. Emma, Juliana, and I would have “mussel nights”, which pretty much consisted of us making a bomb ass meals and talking about whatever was on our minds. I miss those moments so dearly as much as I miss the taste of perfectly cooked white wine sauce. I hope that you all can make this and pour one out for the homies because I sure will.
Tayo Omisore (Poetry Editor)
Recipe: PINEAPPLE HONEY WHISKEY
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ounces Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
- ¾ ounce honey
- 3 pineapple wedges
- 1 Maraschino cherry (optional)
- A Mood*
Combine the whiskey, honey, and three to four pineapple wedges in a Solo cup of your choosing. Use cold canned pineapples as a chilling agent. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
Drink the cocktail first, save the alcohol-infused pineapples for last.
A note about ‘the Mood’:
“You’ll want to be in your sophomore year of university. Preferably a Saturday night, though Thirsty Thursdays will suffice. You’ll need friends. Loud. Color of Black Birches, strength of an Oak tree type chicks. Faces that screw when they hear bullshit. You’ll already have your laundry list of excuses as to why you don’t go to house parties. You’ll want them to convince you anyway. You’ll need a carpeted ballroom floor. Old Bruno playing. Preferably Treasure. All the bodies in the room should be slick with anxiety and youth. You’ll approach a moonwhite table decorated in several red cups filled to the brim with shitty beer. Play a game, don’t miss a shot. Play another round, don’t miss a shot. Ok, one more round, because the party is now literally surrounding you, and you are nothing if not a showman. Make sure the drink never leaves your hand. Make sure you don’t forget this night.
