Fluffbuff

  This week has been cramped with work and stuff, but I did manage to make some food experiments. First, a carrot and coriander soup and last night, my first tortillas. The other day I bought a tortillera (tortilla press), a tortilla warmer, some masa and maseca.

I tried to take pictures sans kitties, but I didn't have all evening.

Masa is a corn dough I got from Vallarta, a Mexican supermarket. I figured since this was my first time making tortillas I'd make things easy for myself. Good thing, 'cuz I had trouble making the little buggers even with the prepared dough. Maseca is corn flour and I got it to prevent the dough from sticking to the parchment paper, but let's start from the beginning.

First, you make little balls of dough (eventually I want to make my own dough), sprinkle some corn flour on them, place a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom of the tortilla press, put the dough on top and another sheet of parchment paper over that. Close the tortilla press, squeeze the handle and voila, half your dough goes out one side of the tortilla press. Try again. I think the size and placement of the dough on the press makes the difference.

I made several tortillas, all rather thick and I had some difficulty peeling them off the parchment paper even using the maseca. Oh well. I'll get better… I hope.

The masa had a really strong smell and it permeated the fridge and the house. I cooked the tortillas on a flat griddle witout any oil or other fat as instructed by the Mexican guy at the cooking supplies store. I cooked them a couple of minutes on one side, then the other, then turned them over one last time to finish them off. I didn't like them too much, but Ben is always a sport and put on a good show of enjoying them. I think I need to see someone make tortillas to really learn. Maybe I should check YouTube for video tutorials.

In any case, the red onions, bell peppers and beans came out all right and the leftover chicken from the night before worked just fine. Not the same thing as a chicken fajita, but with a little practice I hope to add some Mexican dishes to our repertoire soon.

Wish I'd recorded the actual tortilla making, but try taking pictures with your fingers covered in sticky dough!