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Northern Style Flour Tortillas

Northern Style Flour Tortillas

Northern Style Flour Tortillas

INGREDIENTS - makes 24 to 30 tortillas

4 cups all purpose flour (avoid flours with high protein content, anything under 13%)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup vegetable shortening, lard, or room temperature butter
1 3/4 cup hot water

  1. Mix dry ingredients. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
  2. Add shortening. Add vegetable shortening (or whatever fat you are using) and rub it in with your fingers. It should resemble sand with a few pea-sized pieces of fat.
  3. Knead. Add water and mix to form a wet dough. It will be sticky. Turn out onto a unfloured work surface and knead for 5 minutes. It will be really sticky at first but eventually will form a smooth dough. Use a bench scraper to scrape the dough off the counter as you go if necessary.
  4. Let rest. Grease a large bowl place the dough inside and turn to coat in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 20 minutes. 
  5. Divide the dough. Pinch off a small piece of dough (a digital scale is really handy for this). The size of the piece will depend on how large your comal or skillet you will be cooking the tortillas on is (a little bigger than a golf ball) which give us 8-inch tortillas. Roll into smooth balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth. 
  6. Heat the pan. Place a comal or other nonstick skillet over medium heat and let warm at least 3 minutes before you cook any tortillas on it. 
  7. Roll the tortillas. Place a ball of dough on a lightly floured counter and flour a rolling pin. Roll each ball into a very thin circle. You should be able to see your hand through it. The thinner the better. 
  8. Cook. As you roll place each tortilla on the hot, dry skillet and cook undisturbed until toasted and bubbles cover the surface, about 1 minute. Flip and cook another minute on the other side. Keep warm in a clean towel and repeat with remaining dough.
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Entomatadas alla Pollock

Entomatadas alla Pollock

This simple homey Mexican recipe is a comfort food for all who know it, entomatadas like enchiladas or enfrijoladas or enmoladas, all carry the same idea but a different sauce.

Entomatadas have a simple non spicy tomato sauce that reminds one of hugs from la abuela!

Entomatadas alla Pollock

Tortillas Komali 15cm Tradicional

3 Chile Guajillo

2 Chile Arbol

3 tomatoes

1/2 onion

1 garlic 

Oil for frying

salt to taste 

Fillings: shredded chicken, cheese, or beans

Toppings: crema, chile oil, lettuce, crumbly cheese

Instructions:

1. Prepare your salsa, clean your chiles by taking out the seeds and veins, soak them in hot water until soft. Add all tomatoes, onion, garlic and chiles in your blender and blend until very smooth, salt to taste. 

2. Fry off your salsa until it gets a bright red color, then fry off your tortillas until they become flexible and soft. Set them aside.

3. Set up your plate with some salsa at the bottom, dip the tortillas in the salsa and fill them with your desired filling

4. Top them with more salsa and your desired toppings.

Provecho!

Abuela’s Tip: Anytime you’re making salsa Macha or chile oil in your blender is a good time to make this simple tomato sauce, since your blender will be coated with an amazing residual goodness, blend the tomatoes/onion/garlic to clean out your blender and make this recipe without using extra Chiles.

 

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Easy Bean Soup or Tlatlapas

Easy Bean Soup or Tlatlapas

Why on this hot Summer day are we craving soup, you may ask?

As early as I remember my mother bless her heart, always decided to cook lentil soup (which I hated as a child, now I love 😆), and I guess the tradition stuck because on this hot summer day I’m here stirring and stirring my Mexican frijoles soup.

This soup is traditionally called Tlatlapas which is an ‘easier’ take on cooking dry beans from scratch (that’ll really make your kitchen hot) which I always find way to time consuming and not very satisfying.

 

Recipe:

Easy Bean Soup or Tlatlapas 

500gr of dry beans (any will do)

1/2 onion

1 garlic clove

2 chile arbol

1 chile morita

12 cups of broth or water

olive oil

salt to taste

1. Heat your pan on medium heat and toast your dry beans on low heat, let them cool off and grind them as fine as powder.

2. Fry off your onion and garlic then add the bean powder.

3. Stir until evenly coated and start adding the liquid cup by cup.

4. Stir occasionally until you achieve an even smooth consistency, salt to taste.

Enjoy! Provecho!

There are a lot of known toppings for this soup like nopales in strips, fried strips of chile or epazote. We love this soup with very thin tortilla strips and a mild chile oil. 

Abuela's Note: If you don't have a mortero or metate (the traditional way of grinding grains and beans) you can use a blender. If the powder is not fine enough, cook it through as much as you can and blend it until smooth.

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Mexican Chiles A Complete Guide

Mexican Chiles A Complete Guide

Mexican Chiles are a staple ingredient of many of the best Mexican recipes, there are over 60 types of chiles produced in Mexico adding complexity, spice and depth. Fresh chiles are used to add crunchiness, heat and color to salsas, while they can be eaten raw, when they are dried their complexion and taste change completely, like a culinary chameleon!

Dried chiles need only to be deseeded, destemmed and toasted on a comal, they can also be fried or soaked in hot water to be ready for any recipe.

Here are some of the most iconic chiles in Mexico,

Chile Guajillo

Guajillo chiles are the dried twin of the mirasol chile, they are large, thin chiles with red skin and mild spice, add to that their natural sweetness and earthiness and it gives you Mexico's most popular dried pepper. Mostly used for pastes, rubs and caldos (soups/stews), it also pairs well with chocolate!

SCOVILLE RATING: 2,000 – 5,000

Recipes using Chile Guajillo include; Red Pozole, Red enchiladas, Mole de Olla, Asado de Boda, Salsa Roja.

Chile Ancho

Chile Ancho is the dried version of the poblano, they are like a giant raisin and are incredibly fragrant. They can vary in their heat, but you can generally expect a mild to medium and amazingly smoky flavor. Use it for marinades, like adobos, or to make chile paste, this is one of the main chiles for mole.

SCOVILLE RATING: 500-3,000

Recipes using Chile Ancho include; Mole Poblano, Adobo Sauce, Enchiladas Rojas..

Chile Mulato

The Mulato is a darker chile ancho, a fully matured and dried poblano pepper, if you put them side by side you will be able to see the difference in color and identify the mulato from the ancho. They are generally mild in spice paired with their natural sweetness and smokiness, makes it the best chile for moles, salsas and stews.

SCOVILLE RATING: 500 -3,000

Chile Chipotle

We have two types of Chipotle in our store, the meco and the morita, our favorite is the morita, a small but punchy red and ripened jalapeño. This chile is smoked for a bit less time so it retains a soft and fruity complexion. Let these chiles fully soak to achieve smooth salsas, or try our creamy chipotle salsa on this link.

SCOVILLE RATING: 5,000 – 10,000
Chipotle are very popular, especially the canned version with an adobo sauce, they are used in salsas, and to add flavor and spiciness to stews like Caldo Tlalpeño.

Chile de Arbol

Bright red and to handled with care, these long slender chiles are what brings the most spice to all our red salsas. Try toasting them or frying them as your rehydrating method to intensify their earthiness and heat.

SCOVILLE RATING: 15,000 – 30,000

My favorite way of using Chile de Arbol is the way my grandmother Tita taught me, by making a Chile de Arbol Oil on this link.

Chile Pasilla

Pasilla literally translates to 'little raisin' it is a dried chilaca chile, and true to its name it is dark, wrinkly and sweet like a dried fruit. Because their heat is not overpowering, you can use it to elevate any Oaxacan mole and other complex sauces, check out this pasilla sauce here.

SCOVILLE RATING: 1,000 – 3,999

These are typically used for salsas, but can also be stuffed with meats or seafood.

Chile Piquín

These little bird peppers pack the strongest punch of all, at least 10 times that of a jalapeño. This is a chile that the smaller its size the hotter it will be. The Piquín like the Tepin and other common same sized chiles are mostly from the north of Mexico's arid climate. Turn it into a loose poweder for topping mexican mariscos like, ceviches or aguachiles.

 SCOVILLE RATING: 40,000 - 60,000

Tips on Handling Mexican Chiles

If you've never tried your hand at cooking with Mexican chiles, don't be afraid, we are here to guide you!

First things first, wear plastic gloves and do not touch your face (common mistake) while handling the chiles. You will first need to remove the seeds and the veins, easily done over the bin or over the sink to not make a mess.

Buying dried chiles you should always check that they are not broken or no longer smell like anything, that is a sign that they are old, and they won't yield much flavor. If they break easily when you fold them that also means that they have been sold to you past their prime.

Storing your chiles is easy when you buy them from Casa Mexicana, we sell you the freshest chiles in easy to store resealable bags. If you know you will not be using them in the next months, you can also pop them in the freezer and they will their freshness for 6-8 months. But at Casa Mexicana we make our chiles into pastes or chile oils, which always comes in handy when we are in a rush to cook up a Mexican dish!

 

Find our selection of dried chiles at the best prices here!

#MexicanChiles #ScovilleHeatIndex #Spiceupyourmouth #Chilies #Chili #HandletheHeat

 

 

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