Curtido Recipe (Salvadoran Cabbage Slaw) (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between curtido and sauerkraut? ›

Curtido, curtido! It's an El Salvadoran slaw, similar to sauerkraut in that it is made primarily from fermented cabbage. It's so dang tasty. Aside from the cabbage, it's made with carrots, onion, garlic, and oregano, and is a traditional accompaniment to pupusas.

While cabbage salad often consists only of one vegetable seasoned and dressed, coleslaw can include a few other ingredients like shredded veggies, fruits, or seasonings to give some variety to the dish. While both feature cabbage as the star of the show, the different dressings set the two apart.

Fermented foods like curtido have a myriad of health benefits. By helping to maintain healthy gut flora, probiotics in fermented foods aid digestion and may even help certain digestive disorders like IBS and GERD.

Curtido is a Salvadoran cabbage slaw or relish made with finely shredded cabbage, red onion, carrot, oregano, and vinegar. This is a must-try, authentic Salvadorian recipe. In Central America, curtido is often served with pupusas (corn cakes) and salsa roja.

How to make Curtido – A fermented Salvadoran Slaw (similar to sauerkraut) made with cabbage, carrots, onion and oregano. Simple to make and FULL of healthy probiotics – use curtido in tacos, with pupusas, quesadillas, burrito bowls or with enchiladas as a delicious healthy side!

Danish Ballhead, Late Flat Head and Premium Late Dutch are good cabbage varieties for sauerkraut. Krautman is one of the most popular varieties for making sauerkraut, and growers are encouraged to try new varieties as well.

The fast food chain was forced to stop selling its coleslaw tubs when a supply issue meant the slaw would have to be served up without the dressing. “We are currently experiencing a supply issue with our KFC coleslaw dressing,” a KFC spokesperson said. The slaw is made up of cabbage and carrots coated in mayonnaise.

Finely diced ingredients

What's more, KFC finely dices everything so you don't have to chew that much, and all the flavors and textures blend perfectly. More specifically, they dice cabbage, carrots, and onions, which are all crunchy and have a pleasant mouth feel.

Broccoli slaw is packed with many antioxidants and other nutrients that cabbage does not offer.

How long will curtido last in the fridge? ›

If you're planning on keeping your curtido around, be sure to give it a stir every few days just to redistribute flavors. Curtido is delicious after a few weeks, but you shouldn't keep any leftovers in your fridge for longer than one month.

But the pupusa also has a deep cultural significance. Pupusas are family meals, Sunday dinners, and, importantly, the taste of home. Just as the indigenous people used corn tortillas to sustain themselves on their travels, many Salvadorans today seek refuge in pupusas when they are outside of El Salvador.

Corn and beans are staples of cuisine in El Salvador. Local favorites include: Pupusas—ground corn with any combination of cheese, beans, chicaharrones, loroco, squash, garlic, etc. in the in middle, fried on a griddle and eaten with your hands with tomato sauce and curtido (cabbage relish).

El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa, a thick handmade, tortilla-like corn flour or rice flour flatbread stuffed with cheese, chicharrón (cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency), refried beans or loroco (a vine flower bud native to Central America).

It tastes like a milder sauerkraut so it can be a great option for those who don't like the cabbage flavor of sauerkraut. The basis is still cabbage but you add onions, some kind of hot pepper, and carrots. As with all ferments, you want to get a similar size of all your ingredients so it ferments easily.

Both kimchi and sauerkraut are fermented cabbage dishes, traditional to a specific culture, and growing in popularity around the globe. One hails from the traditions of Korea, while the other made its name in Eastern Europe. If you wanted to, you could likely draw comparisons between the two for days!

Salvadoran curtido is a lightly fermented cabbage relish. It's a salty, tangy, refreshing and delicious condiment and can be served with pupusas, tacos, bowls or more!

Sauerkraut has a more acidic taste without the distinct umami flavor of kimchi and other Asian foods. The longer it's fermented, the sourer and tangier it becomes. Overall, it has a more astringent taste, a simpler flavor profile, and a firmer texture than kimchi.