Home-made tortillas

I haven't eaten any Mexican food that I've been particularly happy with in Perth.

I've found That Little Mexican Place to be bland, with none of the bold flavours you expect of Mexican food. We went there with a few friends on their opening weekend a few years ago (2006?) full of anticipation, after being tantalised for months by the promise of Mexican food in North Perth. The food wasn't awful, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The tortillas appeared to be microwaved, and they were certainly dry. The rice was mushy, the steak lacked flavour. The tamales were OK, but very expensive for what they are. The whole thing was kind of amateurish, and a poor representation of Mexican food. Still, I was determined to give the place the benefit of the doubt, so I retained an open mind.

We've been back a couple of times since, once for breakfast and once again for dinner. Neither visit has advanced my opinion of the place; it's not horrible food, and it's better than you'll get from the old generation of Tex-Mex places still lingering around Perth (Acapulco Annies, etc), but it's still a bit disappointing.

The Flying Taco is much better, with great tasting burritos, quesadillas and tacos, but I find the portions a bit small for the price.

Anyway, if you're not satisfied with what's available in restaurants, make your own! That seems to be Matt from Abstract Gourmet's ethos, and it's one I'm happy to subscribe to.

Soda posted previously about the big box of Mexican food supplies I bought her for her birthday. The first item we made using her swag was corn tortillas. You might think that tortillas are the sort of thing that's not worth making yourself. You'd be wrong.

Corn tortillas

Ingredients:

-2 Cups of instant Masa flour

-1/4 teaspoon of salt

-1 1/4 cups of water

Here's how you do it:

You'll need some maize flour. You can get various kinds, but I used MASECA instant corn masa flour for these tortillas. It's sort of like a super fine polenta, but I wouldn't substitute it for anything else. It has a particular texture that is important for the tortilla dough.

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix until you've formed a ball of dough. It should be smooth and pliable.

Cut or rip the dough into 16 equal portions, then roll each portion around so that you have 16 little balls of dough. You might need to keep your hands slightly damp to do this.

We used a tortilla press (part of Soda's birthday box of Mexican stuff), but you could probably use a rolling pin. It would be a bit more hassle though, so try and get hold of a tortilla press.

Cover each side of the tortilla press with glad wrap, set a ball of dough on the bottom of the tortilla press...

...and clamp down on the tortilla.

Now peel your tortilla off from the plastic wrap, being careful not to rip it.

Then just place the tortilla into a hot, dry pan for about 45 seconds on each side. They'll seem quite brittle when they come off the heat, but they become more supple as they cool a bit (also if you make a stack of them as you're cooking them, they kind of steam each other a bit, which loosens them up).

Serve with some kind of Mexican awesomeness, like the carnitas (left) and chorizo (right) tacos.