Save for a few Mexican restaurants I've been to, most of the Mexican meals I've had have come from an Old El Paso box. Sad, but true. So from one Spanish-speaking country to the next this week, I thought I'd try my hand at making a few traditional Mexican plates.
Two essentials of Mexican cuisine are corn and beans, so I combined them, making corn-based tortillas with a bean filling. Not only have I barely ever had good Mexican cuisine, but I don't think I've ever had soft corn-based tortillas. I've only ever eaten flour tortillas, which are more of an American adaptation anyway.
The recipe I found requested something called corn masa mix, not something we can find here. I'm ashamed to admit it, but stupidly I left myself little time this week in the research department, so I grabbed what I thought was the closest thing: pre-cooked yellow corn meal that was almost $6 for a small packet - ouch.
It was amateur hour making the tortillas. Pretty simple in theory: mix two cups of the aforementioned expeno corn meal with 11/2 cups warm water, then portion into little balls and flatten out with a rolling pin between two sheets of baking paper. But for some strange reason I couldn't find my tortilla press - we all have one of those, right? - so I turned out some pretty child-like-looking tortillas that were nowhere near round. They seemed slightly rubbery in texture and I was a little concerned at how they were going to taste.
Surprisingly, they passed. A few flips in the pan - literally 30 seconds each side is all you need - and they were ready. Some split pre and mid cooking, but most of them turned out. Even if they did look fluoro.
Between flips I made a
bean filling for the tortillas. The recipe called for black-eyed peas, but without access to these either at my local supermarket, I opted for the refried beans that featured a Mexican lady on the can.
I let it simmer for a little while to reduce it and let it thicken up otherwise I think it would have been too runny for the tortillas. I guess that's what you get for experimenting with the main ingredient. Once again, I was worried at what the end result would be. This did look frighteningly like dog food. Obviously this is before I mashed it all up.
But again, surprise - pretty yum. Must have been the jalapeno chillies, lime juice and garlic. It could have also been the fact that I've now started to remember to season my food.
Spooned on top of the bean mixture was a bit of tangy tomato salsa, made with white onion, jalapeno, coriander and lime juice. No prizes for guessing the main ingredients used in Mexican cooking... But they make for super fresh, zingy dishes that are flavoursome and refreshing.
And dolloped on top of that, before rolling the whole thing up, was
guacamole. A guacamole that I can't take the credit for. Unlike that idiot contestant from a recent Australian
Come Dine With Me episode that passed off all the food as his own when he pretty much made none of it (that lying scum made me so irate), I will 100% give credit to AJ for making the guac. I like my guacamole with a bit of chunkiness. And with visible flecks of red onion and tiny pieces of tomato, plus the other regulars - avo, of course, garlic, lime juice and chillies, this was lovely.
Not really anything to write home about this week, but as a casual Sunday-night dinner, it did the trick.
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