Monday, September 11, 2006

Homemade Flour Tortilla Chips

Here in Hungary or Magyarorszag if you're local, there isn't alot of international foodstuff to be had. They're pretty proud of Their Way and aren't really receptive to anyone else's way. Which is the nice way of saying that they pretty much hate all other cuisine, lasagne and chili notwithstanding. In an attempt to tease our palates and remind them of the way we used to live in "San Frantastic" (I love me some Mr.Show) I made chips and salsa today. Please understand that I. Made. The. Chips. From scratch.

It was my second time but the first didn't work so well, so we'll just call it this the first.

Flour Tortilla Chips

Ingredients:
3 cups Flour
2tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
4-6 T shortening or lard (I use duck lard, personally)
~1.25C warm Water

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Wow, that was easy, eh?
Now comes the slightly frustrating part... Pinch off little pieces the size of a hazelnut, roll out as thin as possible. Heat Vegetable oil in frying pan until dough sizzles on impact. Float into oil as many as will fit without overlapping and fry until golden. Be sure to flip the chip once halfway through and drain onto paper towels. Salt while hot and enjoy!

I also make my own salsa or pico de gallo. This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge.

Pico de Gallo

6 medium Tomatoes diced
1 medium onion diced as thinly as possibly
1 jalepeno or other spicy chile
Chopped cilantro (if this is not available as it isn't here, oregano is a nice substitute)
1 lime or 1/2 a lemon juiced
salt to taste
mix all ingredients.


Please take note that I mentioned this and don't hate me if you try this at home; these chips are the rockingest, awesomest, bestest chips in the world. If you become an addict like the 5penny-family has, I am not to blame. Although, I will accept virtual invitations to mexican night at your house and take credit for turning you on to the yummy crispy goodness!

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A little shoutout to Kit: Hey! Hi! How'd the bread turn out? And also I was wondering, is there any way you can allow Others to comment so I can leave a comment or 2? I think you can allow Others and still not allow anonymous comments... Your poem was absolutely gorgeous and made me teary.

2 comments:

Kit said...

Ooh have you become an other now with Beta? I didn't know others couldn't comment. I'll have to go and look. I've tried the bread a couple of times so far and yes i can taste the difference. It was late at night though by the time I got to bake the first loaf, so next time I tried the starter/poolish overnight in the fridge which I think worked but then I still had to rush it to get it on the lunch table. Next time I'm going to try the first two stages then the first rising in the fridge overnight and see what happens.Was going to post about it but haven't got around to it yet. Glad you liked the poem.

Kit said...

PS the salsa and chips sound great, but I can see my family begging for them if I start!