Salvadoran Chumpe Bread Recipe

Salvadoran bread with chumpe is a traditional recipe known throughout the country. It is a very special turkey sandwich that is filled with baked turkey meat, pickled vegetables and greens along with a really exquisite sauce.

If you want to know a little about the culture of El Salvador, starting by trying this turkey sandwich is not a bad idea, in fact it is a wonderful way to get to know the culture of a country and more with this step-by-step recipe in which we will show you how make the sauce for chumpe bread, the pickle and of course, how to cook Salvadoran-style baked turkey.

Ingredients to make Pan Con chumpe Salvadoran:

Stuffed turkey or Chumpe

• 1 Turkey (12-15 lbs.)
• 2 lemons (juice)
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter
• ½ cup yellow mustard
• ½ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pinch of salt and pepper

Pickled

• ½ Cabbage
• 1 onion
• 1 Carrot
• 1 cup of white vinegar
• 1 cup of water (240 milliliters)
• 1 teaspoon of oregano in branch
• 1 hot chili
• 1 pinch of salt and pepper

Dip

• 2 teaspoons ground Relajo (mixture of spices)
• 12 Tomatoes
• 1 green chili
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 can of tomato paste (small)
• 2½ cups of chicken broth
• ½ cup of melted butter
• ½ cup of cornstarch (62½ grams)
• 1 pinch of salt and pepper

Additional features

• 20 bread rolls
• Salad tomato
• Radishes
• Cucumber
• Watercress

How to make Salvadoran Chumpe Pan:

The first thing we will do is prepare the pickled or “tanned” vegetables for our chumpe bread. To prepare the tanning. To do this, chop everything finely, the cabbage into very fine strips and the rest of the vegetables into julienne strips. Also bring salted water to a boil in a large enough pot. When the water starts to boil, add the cabbage inside along with the onion, carrot and keep cooking for only 30 seconds.

After this time we pass everything through a strainer and place all the vegetables in a bowl with cold water and ice. In this way we guarantee that their cooking stops and they are left with a crispy touch. When the vegetables are cold, strain again and place everything in a bowl to which we will add the vinegar, water, hot pepper and oregano and then season to taste.

We reserve the pickle in the fridge for at least two hours, although if you have time, it is best to prepare it in advance and let it rest for a whole day. Now we are going to prepare the sauce so we start by turning on the oven at 120ºC.

We take out a tray and place the tomatoes together with the green chili, the onion and the garlic, all finely chopped. Then, we roast the vegetables in the oven until the peel of the tomatoes and the green chili separates. This procedure can last an hour, you can review the recipe for roasted peppers to check its correct preparation.

When they are cold we can peel and remove all the skin from the vegetables. With the roasted and peeled vegetables, now it’s time to blend everything together with the tomato paste, so to do it the best thing will be to blend everything in portions until we can mix everything and obtain a homogeneous mixture.

We pass this base sauce to a large pot where we are going to mix it with the chicken broth, the ground mixture and the cornstarch dissolved in the melted butter. Season to taste and mix well.

Cook the sauce over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency.  We correct the seasoning if necessary and reserve.

We already have the sauce and the pickle for our bread with chumpe so to continue with this Salvadoran recipe we have to prepare the turkey.

To do this, we start by washing the turkey on the outside and inside with water. Then we dry with a cloth and bathe the bird with lemon juice, making sure that lemon falls everywhere. When finished, we return to dry with another clean cloth.

Now we will make a mixture of mustard, Worcestershire sauce and butter to spread all over the turkey, both inside and out. When you have finished bathing the turkey in this mustard mixture, we will season with plenty of pepper on the outside.

To cook the turkey in the oven, the ideal is to use a “choppier”, a special pot with a bottom and a rack for roasting meat typical of El Salvador. If you don’t have one, you can use a normal oven tray and the rack on top.

With this in mind, place a cup of gravy on the pan and place the turkey on the rack, just above the pan. Place the turkey with the breast facing the rack.

Pour another cup of sauce over turkey and cook for 2 1/2 hours, basting with remaining sauce every 30 to 40 minutes until turkey is tender. If the turkey starts to burn you can cover with aluminum foil. Add water to turkey drippings and gravy mixture if needed.

To assemble the Salvadoran turkey sandwich, we start by carving the turkey into medium pieces and placing the meat strips directly on the cut bread rolls on one side. Finally, pour a large spoonful of sauce over the turkey and add lettuce, watercress, cucumber, radish, tomato, all this cut into slices and a little pickle to taste. Top the pan with Salvadoran chumpe with more sauce and enjoy!