Tag Archives: tortillas

Soups and Stews

Sopa de Tortilla

  • 4 corn tortillas, cut in strips and crisped in hot oil
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 chiles anchos, dried, whole
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • Cooked beans
  • Sliced avocado
  • Grated cheese
  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped fresh cilantro

Combine broth, tomato paste, garlic, bay, cumin and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Place 1 chile ancho and some of the fried tortillas and beans in each of four soup bowls. Pour broth on top. Top with grated cheese.

Serve with avocado, onion, cilantro, and extra cheese and beans on the side.

Cat by Kati
Cat by Kati
Appetizers

Quesadillas

Quesadillas are traditional Mexican cornflour pockets or folded tortillas (corn or wheat) filled with many savory stuffings, from sauteed hot chiles and onions (rajas) to beans and from squash blossoms and huitlacoche (corn fungus) to seasoned ground beef. They usually, although not always, contain cheese. When using ready-made corn or flour tortillas, they can be pan-grilled with very little or no oil. When using fresh masa harina, they are deep fried in very hot grease.

  • 2 cups masa harina (tortilla flour)
  • 2 T wheat flour
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 2 T melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup milk, approximately

Mix dry ingredients well; add butter, egg and enough milk to form a fairly stiff dough. Form into medium-thin tortillas rounds either using a tortilla press, rolling or patting between palms of hands. Stuff with any of the following stuffings, fold and seal the edges by pinching together, and fry in hot lard or oil. Drain and serve.

Stuffings: Cheese and epazote herb (known as Mexican Tea or wormseed). Mushrooms sauteed with onions and peppers. Squash bloosoms seauteed with onions. Spiced ground beef. Beans.

 

The common Spanish name, epazote (sometimes spelled and pronounced ipasote or ypasote), is derived from Nahuatl: epazōtl (pronounced [eˈpasoːt͡ɬ]) meaning skunk sweat.

Wikipedia contributors. “Dysphania ambrosioides.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 15 Feb. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

 

Meatless Main Dishes

Papatzul

A typical dish from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, made with a wonderful creamy sauce of ground pumpkin seeds. Paptzules are similar to enchiladas in that they are filled and rolled tortillas smothered in a sauce that has chiles in it but is not necessarily very spicy.

Ingredients for Papatzul

  • 3 cups hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • 6 serrano chiles
  • 1 sprig epazote (or 2 tsp dry)
  • 3 cups hot water
  • 24 corn tortillas
  • 12 hard cooked eggs

Pulverize the pepitas in a blender. Add seeded chiles and epazote and blend again. Place in a pan and add hot water gradually, stirring. Do not boil. Bring to a bare simmer and cook until sauce is like cream. Dip tortillas in sauce, fill with sliced or chopped eggs, roll, place in a baking dish and cover with remaining sauce. Place in oven until just heated through.

pumpkin seeds - Pepitas

Breads and Pancakes

Tortillas de Harina (Wheat Flour Tortillas)

Although the corn tortilla is the staple flatbread of Mexico and part of almost every traditional Mexican meal, flour tortillas were introduced by the Spaniards during the colonial period and today are common fare, particularly in the northern Mexican states.

Ingredients for Wheat Flour Tortillas

  • 2 cups all-purpose or whole wheat flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t salt
  • 3 T lard or chilled coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup cold water or milk (soy or almond milk is okay)

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in lard or coconut oil. Add liquid to make stiff dough; lumps are okay. Divide into balls and roll out thin.

Place tortillas on a pre-heated, ungreased comal (flat griddle) until toasty spots start forming on the underside (1-2 minutes).  Flip the tortilla and do the other side — they should be pliable, not crisp.

Wrap in a towel to keep warm. Best eaten hot off the grill, but can be stuffed with cheese, beans, or other fillings, folded over, and then returned to the griddle and toasted until crisp.

Servings: 12 tortillas


Originally derived from the corn tortilla, a bread of maize which predates the arrival of Europeans to the Americas, the wheat flour tortilla was an innovation by exiled Spanish Jews who did not consider corn meal to be kosher, using wheat brought from Europe, while this region was the colony of New Spain.

Wikipedia contributors. “Tortilla.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 Mar. 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.
Eggs and Cheese

Huevos Motuleños

  • 3 corn tortillas, heated
  • 3 T cooked black beans
  • 2 eggs
  • Mexican cooked red sauce
  • 1/4 cup green peas, cooked
  • 1 T grated cheese

Spread 2 tortillas with beans. Heat sauce. Fry eggs. Place 1 beany tortilla on a plate, top with a fried egg, and repeat. Top with last tortilla. Pour hot sauce over top of the stack and sprinkle peas and grated cheese on top.

Serve immediately

Meatless Main Dishes

Chilaquiles a la Angel

  • Oil
  • 12 corn tortillas, 1 day old or more (stale but not dry)
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped finely
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup grated Manchego or Mozzarella cheese

Cut tortillas into strips or in triangles. Heat 1/2″ oil in wide frying pan. Brown and crisp tortillas in batches. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Sauté onion in a little oil till soft. Add tomatoes, bouillon cube, garlic, chiles and water. Cook until tomatoes are mushy and liquid is slightly reduced. Throw in coriander and adjust salt. Cook 5 minutes. Throw about two thirds of fried tortillas into sauce and toss to coat. Add 1/2 of the grated cheese and toss again.

Let simmer for 2 minutes to soften tortillas slightly and melt cheese. Add the remaining tortillas and toss quickly. Top with remaining cheese and allow to sit for a minute until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.