Homemade Corn Tortillas

There’s nothing like a trip to the ER to kick your New Years weight loss resolution into high gear.  Even though getting on a diet was not at the top of my list, I nonetheless received a massive wake-up call to the reality of my current health status on the first day of 2015.  Diagnosis:  gallstones, and a large piece of fat that is stuck to my liver which has resulted in elevated liver functions (we’ll learn more about that later).  Needless to say, I was in horrendous pain for a good 12 hours.

Little did I know for months now, the signs were there; I just had no idea what was going on with my body!  It started with GERD the second week of November, then stomach cramps a week or two after.  It wasn’t until the last week of December where I was uncomfortable almost all day.  Now I know.

Long story short, I need to drastically change my diet.  As much as I love to pull inspiration from traditional Mexican recipes to fuel new ones, I can no longer do this without making sure each recipe is the lowest it can be in terms of fat content.   In a way, I feel like it would be a disservice to my readers, to my family, and especially to myself if I continue to ignore the fact that clean, lean, wholesome, (even organic) eating IS and should be a way of life!  Our bodies deserve the best, don’t they?  Also, I would REALLY like to keep all my organs and live a long life.  Which naturally means I need to stick to leaner recipes!

Some of my recipes here have been carefully created with this in mind, but I KNOW I can do better. More can definitely be done to practice and promote a healthier eating lifestyle, and currently that is not the focus of my blog.  I want to change that without sacrificing all that is good about Mexican food somehow!  There is a massive amount of work and research to do for this challenge, but after spending my New Years Day in the ER, I am SO up to the challenge.

I hope you will follow me on this LONG journey to a cleaner, more natural way of feeding our bodies. It’s going to take some serious work, but it’s all for the best.

So!  With that said, for the first post of the year, I want to share something simple.  A simple challenge in fact! Something we so easily take for granted that we hardly ever give it a second thought when we buy this product at the grocery store.

I challenge you to make your own homemade corn tortillas at least once a month to start.  The recipe below yields about six thin corn tortillas with about 1 gram of fat for 3 tortillas.  Three of these is plenty to fill you up with your meal.  As a matter of fact, two breakfast tacos were the perfect amount for my breakfast.

With a little practice, I promise you, taco night will never be the same.

Here we go…

In a medium bowl add:

1/2 cup MASECA® corn flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons water

You will also need a rolling pin, and a large piece of parchment paper folded in half.

First, combine the salt and Maseca corn flour together with your hands then add the water.

Mix with your hands or a spoon until it becomes a soft ball of dough.  Using a measuring spoon, measure one tablespoon of the masa (dough) and roll it into a ball between the palm of your hands.

Heat your comal (griddle) on medium.

Place the ball of masa on one side of the folded parchment paper, then gently press it down to make a small disc-shaped piece of dough.

Fold the other half of the parchment paper over to cover the top.  Place the rolling pin on the center of the dough and make one small gentle roll up, and one down. Turn the parchment paper halfway so that it now sits like a diamond shape in front of you.  Gently roll again up then down, turn the paper again (should now be a square in front of you), roll again.  Keep doing this until you have a thin tortilla.  It shouldn’t fall apart as you peel it off the paper.  If it does you’ve rolled it too much.

You’ll get the hang of it after the first few tries.

You should BARELY be able to see your fingers through the tortilla while it is raw.

Slap that baby onto the hot comal and let it cook for 10-15 seconds, then flip it over.  Cook another 10-15 seconds and flip it over again.  Keep doing that until you see air pockets begin to form.

Air pockets are a good thing!  Don’t worry if they don’t all puff up like this, not all of them do.  Just remember to keep flipping them every 10 or 15 seconds so they don’t burn.  The time to cook them might be slightly different for everyone depending on the comal and how hot it gets.

Fill them up however you like and enjoy!

I filled mine with egg whites, arugula, and avocado slices.