A sopaipilla, sopapilla, sopaipa, or cachanga
is a kind of fried
pastry
Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ma ...
and a type of
quick bread
Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like yeast or sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consumi ...
served in several regions with Spanish heritage in
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
. The word sopaipilla is the
diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
of sopaipa, a word that entered Spanish from the
Mozarabic language
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
of
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
.
[ The original Mozarabic word ''Xopaipa'' was used to mean bread soaked in oil. The word is derived in turn from the Germanic word ''suppa'', which meant bread soaked in liquid.][Correa, Adriana]
Comida de larga tradición
Diario de Cuyo
A sopaipilla is traditionally made from leavened
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
wheat dough (or a mixture of wheat flour and masa harina
''Masa'' (or ''masa de maíz'') (; ) is a maize dough that comes from ground nixtamalized corn. It is used for making corn tortillas, '' gorditas'', ''tamales'', ''pupusas'', and many other Latin American dishes. It is dried and powdered into a ...
) to which some shortening
Shortening is any fat that is a solid at room temperature and used to make crumbly pastry and other food products. Although butter is solid at room temperature and is frequently used in making pastry, the term ''shortening'' seldom refers to bu ...
such as butter is added. After being allowed to rise, the dough is rolled into a sheet that is then cut into circular, square or triangular shapes, 8–10 cm in size for the longest dimension (if intended for a dessert) or 15–20 cm (if intended to be stuffed for a main course). These pieces are then deep-fried in oil, sometimes after being allowed to rise further before frying: the frying causes them to puff up, ideally forming a hollow pocket in the center.
History
Fried cakes have been made by humans since the earliest pottery vessels were developed that could hold oil or fat, around 5000 to 3000 BCE. In ancient times, frying cakes was a primitive substitute for baking, requiring only fire and a simple vessel. Every culture has developed some form of the dish. Sopaipilla is a version found in Latin American cuisine
Latin American cuisine is the typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to many of the countries and cultures in Latin America. Latin America is a highly diverse area of land whose nations have varying cuisines. Some items typical o ...
, Tex-Mex cuisine
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...
and the cuisine of the Southwestern United States
The cuisine of the Southwestern United States is food styled after the rustic cooking of the Southwestern United States. It comprises a fusion of recipes for things that might have been eaten by Hispanos, Spanish colonial settlers, cowboys, Nati ...
.
Variations
There are yeasted and quick bread
Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like yeast or sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consumi ...
variations of sopaipillas. Some batters are enriched by the addition of pumpkin ( es, zapallo).
Argentina
In Argentina, this pastry is known under other names apart from sopaipa, supaipa and sopaipilla including ''torta
Torta is a culinary term that can, depending on the cuisine, refer to cakes, pies, flatbreads, sandwiches, or omelettes.
Usually, it refers to:
* cake or pie in South America, much of Europe, and southern Philippines
* flatbread in Spain
* a ...
frita'', ''kreppel'' (from regional German '' Kreppel''), and ''chipá cuerito''.[
]
Chile
In Chile, sopaipillas (or sopaipas) are known to have been eaten at least since 1726. Although traditional Chilean sopaipillas made in central Chile include cooked ground pumpkin in their dough, this is typically not the case in the south.[ Depending if they are served as a pastry or bread Chilean sopaipillas are traditionally served with either ]pebre
Pebre is a Chilean condiment made of coriander and/or parsley, chopped onion, vinegar, a neutral oil, ground or pureed spicy aji peppers, and usually chopped tomatoes. Pebre is most commonly used on bread. It is also used on meat, or when meat su ...
(a sauce of chili pepper, onion, garlic and coriander) or boiled in ''chancaca
Chancaca is a typical Bolivian, Chilean and Peruvian, warm, sweet sauce made of raw unrefined sugar from sugarcane. It is often flavored with orange peel and cinnamon, and is consumed on sopaipillas or picarones.
Chancaca is also a synonym f ...
'' sauce (a homemade hot syrup cooked with panela
Panela () or rapadura (Portuguese pronunciation: ) is an unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Central and Latin America. It is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice. Panela is known by other na ...
, orange peel and cinnamon, and then they are called ''sopaipillas pasadas''). They are also served with mustard
Mustard may refer to:
Food and plants
* Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment
* Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment
** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...
, ketchup
Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among other ...
, hot butter, avocado or cheese.[ In Chile sopaipillas are traditionally homemade and eaten during days of heavy rain,][ as well as enjoying widespread popularity as ]street food
Street food is ready-to-eat food or drinks sold by a hawker, or vendor, in a street or at other public places, such as markets or fairs. It is often sold from a portable food booth, food cart, or food truck and is meant for immediate consumption ...
, especially during winter. Chilean sopaipillas are round and flat, sporting holes pricked through the centre of the dough, usually by a fork.
From Chiloé Archipelago
The Chiloé Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago de Chiloé, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and t ...
to the south, sopaipillas have rhomboid
Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled.
A parallelogram with sides of equal length (equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboi ...
form. They are a relevant ingredient in '' reitimientos'', a traditional feast related to rendering fats after a pig slaughter
Pig slaughter is the work of slaughtering domestic pigs which is both a common economic activity as well as a traditional feast in some European and Asian countries.
Agriculture
Pig slaughter is an activity performed to obtain pig meat (pork). ...
.
Peru
In Peru, the name for this fried pastry is ''cachanga'', and it may be either sweet or sour. Generally prepared during breakfast time, this traditional food of the Peruvian cuisine
Peruvian cuisine reflects local practices and ingredients including influences mainly from the indigenous population, including the Inca, and cuisines brought by immigrants from Europe (Spanish cuisine, Italian cuisine); Asia (Japanese cuisine an ...
is prepared differently depending on the region, with one of the recipes involving the usage of cinnamon. The main difference between this form of sopaipilla and the other versions is that they are larger, thinner, and more rigid.
United States
Sopaipillas in New Mexican cuisine
New Mexican cuisine is the cuisine of the Southwestern US state of New Mexico. The region is primarily known for its fusion of Pueblo Native American cuisine with Hispano Spanish and Mexican cuisine originating in Nuevo México.
This cuisi ...
are pillow-shaped fried pastry dough, distinct from Latin American variations. Similar to Native American frybread
Frybread (also spelled fry bread) is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. Made with simple ingredients, generally wheat flour, sugar, salt, and fat, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings such a ...
, they are typically served as a bread, and used to mop up sauces, scoop up tidbits, dab up flavors, or are shredded into stews. It has been called "the doughnut of the Southwest", while other authors have said "this non-yeasted, simply flavored bread is definitely not a donut, but it's not really a fritter either".
In New Mexico, they are often filled with savory ingredients such as ground beef or chicken, covered with chile and cheese, and served with lettuce and tomato as an entree. They are also eaten as a dessert, drizzled with honey or anise
Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Eurasia.
The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and ta ...
syrup.
Sopaipillas in Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine, American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejanos, ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others i ...
cuisine are a puffed pastry, but otherwise similar to New Mexican-style sopaipillas, except that they are always served as a dessert item, coated with cinnamon sugar and served with honey. Many Tex-Mex
Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine, American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the Tejanos, ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others i ...
restaurants in Texas and Oklahoma will serve dessert sopaipillas as part of the complimentary "set-up": chips and salsa served before the meal, along with sometimes queso sauce, pickled vegetables and flour tortillas and sopaipillas served at the end of the meal.
Sopaipilla and strudel
A strudel (, ) is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Habsburg Empire. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine but is also common ...
were together designated as Texas' state pastries from 2003 to 2005.
Uruguay
In Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, a variant of the sopaipilla is known as torta frita. Tortas fritas are made of flour, salt and water and shortened with cow fat, stretched into a thin large shaped dough (20-25 cm) and deep fried in cow fat. They are usually salty, but it is a common custom to cover them with sugar or quince cheese
Quince cheese (also known as quince paste) is a sweet, thick jelly made of the pulp of the quince fruit. It is a common confection in several countries.
Traditionally from Mediterranean. In Iberian Peninsula, it is called ''ate'' or ''dulce d ...
and eat them as a snack.
They are commonly prepared on rainy days.
See also
* Buñuelo
A ''buñuelo'' (; alternatively called ''boñuelo'', ''bimuelo'', ''birmuelo'', ''bermuelo'', ''bumuelo'', ''burmuelo'', or ''bonuelo''; ca, bunyol, ) is a fried dough fritter found in Spain, Latin America, and other regions with a historical co ...
* List of quick breads
This is a list of quick breads. Quick bread is any bread leavened with some leavening agents other than yeast or eggs. Preparing a quick bread generally involves two mixing bowls. One contains all dry ingredients (including chemical leavening age ...
* List of doughnut varieties
Doughnuts are a type of fried dough food. The following is a list of doughnut varieties.
Variations and specialties by region
The terms below constitute either names for different doughnut types created using local recipes, or for the local la ...
* List of fried dough varieties
This is a list of fried dough foods. Many cultures have dishes that are prepared by deep frying dough in many various forms. Doughnuts are a type of fried dough food that are covered separately in the Wikipedia article List of doughnut varieties.
...
* Dessert chimichangas
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
"sopaipilla"
''Webster's New World College Dictionary
''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'' is an American dictionary first published in 1951 and since 2022 published by Harper Collins Publishers.
Overview
The first edition was published by the World Publishing Company of Cl ...
''
Chilean-Style Sopapillas, or Pumpkin Fritters
from The Spruce Eats
{{Chilean bread
American desserts
Argentine cuisine
Bolivian cuisine
Chilean breads
Cuisine of the Southwestern United States
Doughnuts
New Mexican cuisine
Peruvian cuisine
Quick breads
Tex-Mex cuisine
Uruguayan cuisine
Mexican desserts
Mexican cuisine
Mexican breads