By: Mia Loveatin

Tortillas every meal (Recipe included)

Tortillas are of course the bread of Mexico. When the ancient Mexicans invented tortillas – their flat, round, unleavened bread – I think they invented the most versatile bread of all. It can be stacked, rolled, folded, torn, cut, and crumbled; it tastes good soft and hot, crisp fried, or toasted. It can be shaped with the hands and easily baked on an improvised griddle over any source of heat; it keeps well, and can be reheated later.

Mexicans are very wise when it comes to dishes too as you can even substitute tortillas for eating utensils by using them as a scoop, or as a plate when laid in the palm of your hand and filled with delicious food.

The tortilla is a food born out of the necessities of primitive people. The first ones were made out of the native corn, dried to keep until the next crop came in. The kernels were simmered in water with lime until partially soft (this is called nixtamal), then laboriously ground by hand in a stone mortar called a metate. The moist meal called masa, was patted into a thin pancake and baked on a comal (a clay griddle).

When the Spaniards introduced wheat flour, cooks quickly used it for tortillas, too. However, the flour tortillas never became as widely used.

The corn tortilla made most places in modern Mexico is a little different from what the Mexican Indians made hundreds of years ago. Often machines will be found doing the work. However, if you are lucky, in the market places, you will see women working huge mounds of masa, which oozes excess liquid, until the dough has just the right feel. Then they slap it and pat it into cakes and bake them right on the spot. Yummy!

The slap-slap sounds of many tortilla makers at work and the heady scent of cooking corn are sensuous experiences of the real Mexico which many visitors long remember.

I won’t give you a tortilla recipe because it really is too much fun to watch the experts and really tortillas are incredibly inexpensive. I will however include a great recipe that is quick, easy, and you can play with many variations. Just use your imagination.

Enchilada Pie

Shredded chicken or beef, even cooked ground beef can be used for a “tex-mex” version

1 onion chopped

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

6 corn tortillas

Butter or margarine or oil

1 can chopped olives (again the “tex-mex” version but it tastes good)

1 ½ cups shredded cheese

½ cup water

Mix first 6 ingredients together and set aside. Spread each tortilla with butter or oil. In a casserole dish, layer the tortillas and meat mixture, olives and cheese. Add water and cover and bake in a 400 F. oven for about 20 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve with a salad and salsa on the side. Buen Provecho!

Mia Loveatin has lived in Mexico now for over 5 years and says she really enjoys good food and that is one reason she ended up in the Riviera Maya where some of the best food in the world can be found.

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