Monday, 19 July 2010

• Make Your Own Gorditas

  

  
  For those of you not familiar with the term, a gordita is a Tex-Mex cross between a taco and a sandwich. It roughly translates to "little fatty" (female).  It is much like a very thick, fresh. corn tortilla.  The concept is to separate the masa (corn meal) into balls and press them out between wax paper until they are roughly 1/4 inch thick, then cook them on a large, lightly oiled skillet or griddle until they puff up or become slightly rubbery.  They are quite delicious and simple to make. 
  
  Start by buying some good corn masa at the store.  I will post a recipe that you can use at the end of this post that you can use if it's not available.  First, take about a pound of masa in your hands, then separate it into about 10 balls of equal size.  If it seems like it's cracking or crumbling as you work it, get your hands wet and make sure it's good and sticky.
  
  

  

  
  Once you've worked it into balls, get three sheets of wax paper and stage the balls on one of them. Use another one as the base for your press, and the third one to put over the top so that you apply even pressure while pressing the balls into 1/4 inch thick cakes.  Once you've done that, put them on your preheated, oiled griddle or skillet.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  You'll want to flip them after about only a minute, as soon as they're solid enough for you to do it, then let them cook until they puff up or get firmer and look nice and golden on both sides.  Whether they puff up depends on the amount of moisture actually retained in the masa, which is dependent on factors such as how quickly you brought them to heat and flipped them, how dry the masa was to begin with, and the relative humidity where you're cooking.
  
  

   

  
  Now that they're done, you can stuff them with or wrap them around the tasty Mexican filling of your choice!  Fajitas with peppers and onions, barbacoa, carnitas, refritos, cheese, cilantro, onion, and picadillo are all great options.  Whether you stuff them or wrap them depends on if you were able to get them to puff up.  If so, just cut a slit along one side of the "puff" and stuff the filling in there.  If not, just wrap them like a taco, and you'll find that the flavor and texture is quite different from that of your average corn tortilla taco.  Hope you enjoy!  Here's the masa recipe we promised earlier:
  
  "Making the Masa Dough

  To make 16-18 tortillas, start with putting 2 cups of masa flour in a large bowl. (Hint: for added "lift" you can mix in 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.) Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of very warm water to the masa flour (according to the directions on the package, some brands may call for different amounts of water). Mix in and let sit for 5 minutes or so. Begin working the masa with your hands to make the dough. Work the dough for several minutes. Press the dough with your fingers and the palms of your hands as if you were kneading bread dough. If at any point through the tortilla making process the dough seems too dry or too wet, add a little more water or masa to the dough." -  Simplyrecipes.com

  This presupposes that you can find at least dry masa flour at your super market.  If you can't, we have a much more complicated recipe for grinding your own from dried corn. Feel free to message us if you need it!

  Have you ever had a gordita?  Will you try these at home?

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