One of the things I like best about our apartment is that it came with an induction stove. Well, one burner of an induction stove, basically a fancy hotplate, but it works great.
Except that the pan it came with was so thin it literally turned red hot within seconds of turning on the stove. So, unless we were boiling water or using a lot of sauce, we couldn't cook much.
After a few weeks of getting settled and making sure my paychecks were actually going to come in, we finally bought a brand-new, induction-stove capable, all-around-awesome pan.
That night, we fried bacon, breakfast potatoes, and sunny-side-up eggs for dinner, then I embarked on my first from-scratch challenge: tortillas.
I had searched around the internet for a Thailand-friendly recipe for tortillas, one that did not require baking powder (we hadn't found that yet) or lard/shortening (ditto). I finally settled on this recipe from Dingo Dave's Delightfully Daring Delicacies. I did make a few changes - namely, using half olive oil and half soybean oil, since olive oil is a bit expensive here. I've copied the recipe with my changes below.
The torilla-making process was, to put it lightly, messy. Needless to say, I do not have a tortilla press. Or even plastic wrap. I ended up adding more flour to keep it from sticking to everything, and had to press the tortillas out in a somewhat round shape on our cutting board, so the result didn't look that great. But they tasted great!
We used the tortillas the next night for fajitas - made guacamole from this post, and added some strips of chicken breast seasoned with cumin, salt and pepper, and sauteed some onions and bell peppers. They held up pretty well, only one or two started falling apart toward the end. The tortillas were also great in the morning headed up with cooked apple slices and brown sugar, and just on their own or with some guac. Yum. And they last well in the fridge, which means they make a good weekend cooking project that you can use all week.
Here's the recipe, from Dingo Dave's Delightfully Daring Delicacies:
2 cups plain, unbleached flour (or 1 wholemeal and 1 plain)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup (Yes, TWO-THIRDS!) extra virgin olive oil [I used half olive oil and half soybean]
just under 2/3 cup (call it halfway betwixt 1/2 to 2/3 cup) water (H2O)
Mix everything together, leave it for an hour, then break into little balls and press into a circle. You may need to add more flour - it may just have been because its hot and humid here, but I added about a half a cup after the first tortilla to make it easier to work with.
Then place the rolled-out tortilla in a dry, hot frying pan for about 30 seconds-one minute for each side. Basically, you want to flip it when its, well, flip-able. Like pancakes.
Except that the pan it came with was so thin it literally turned red hot within seconds of turning on the stove. So, unless we were boiling water or using a lot of sauce, we couldn't cook much.
After a few weeks of getting settled and making sure my paychecks were actually going to come in, we finally bought a brand-new, induction-stove capable, all-around-awesome pan.
That night, we fried bacon, breakfast potatoes, and sunny-side-up eggs for dinner, then I embarked on my first from-scratch challenge: tortillas.
I had searched around the internet for a Thailand-friendly recipe for tortillas, one that did not require baking powder (we hadn't found that yet) or lard/shortening (ditto). I finally settled on this recipe from Dingo Dave's Delightfully Daring Delicacies. I did make a few changes - namely, using half olive oil and half soybean oil, since olive oil is a bit expensive here. I've copied the recipe with my changes below.
The torilla-making process was, to put it lightly, messy. Needless to say, I do not have a tortilla press. Or even plastic wrap. I ended up adding more flour to keep it from sticking to everything, and had to press the tortillas out in a somewhat round shape on our cutting board, so the result didn't look that great. But they tasted great!
We used the tortillas the next night for fajitas - made guacamole from this post, and added some strips of chicken breast seasoned with cumin, salt and pepper, and sauteed some onions and bell peppers. They held up pretty well, only one or two started falling apart toward the end. The tortillas were also great in the morning headed up with cooked apple slices and brown sugar, and just on their own or with some guac. Yum. And they last well in the fridge, which means they make a good weekend cooking project that you can use all week.
Here's the recipe, from Dingo Dave's Delightfully Daring Delicacies:
2 cups plain, unbleached flour (or 1 wholemeal and 1 plain)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup (Yes, TWO-THIRDS!) extra virgin olive oil [I used half olive oil and half soybean]
just under 2/3 cup (call it halfway betwixt 1/2 to 2/3 cup) water (H2O)
Mix everything together, leave it for an hour, then break into little balls and press into a circle. You may need to add more flour - it may just have been because its hot and humid here, but I added about a half a cup after the first tortilla to make it easier to work with.
Then place the rolled-out tortilla in a dry, hot frying pan for about 30 seconds-one minute for each side. Basically, you want to flip it when its, well, flip-able. Like pancakes.
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