Spiced Corn Flour Tortilla/ Tortilla de harina de maíz condimentada

Tortilla is like our chapathi or roti of the Mexican cuisine. I got a chance to taste it only after moving to Texas. In USA, if you are a vegetarian, it is very difficult to get good vegetarian food in restaurants, other than certain dishes in Indian restaurants. Selecting a good vegetarian dish from fast food is difficult, you have a Subway sandwich, burger king veggie burger, veggie pizza, taco bells tortilla and chalupa (similar to poori type) with beans only. These are my alternating menus when we go out or if we are late to cook something at home. At Italian and Thai restaurants you can get a few veggie dishes too.

I have tried flour tortilla from Taco Bell, so I am curious to try some corn flour/ Masa harina tortillas. Every weekend we shop at a Latino super market Fiesta, where you can find a lot of Indian stuff too. This weekend I picked up some Masa harina / yellow corn flour . As I wanted to bake a corn bread for this month’s bread baking day: 36 hosted by Heather of Girlichef.  I made a savory corn bread with Gouda cheese and it turned out to be have no takers in my home. Then I thought, I can try north east version of sweet corn bread. I felt I was not at all comfortable to make them sweet, so drop the idea. Then next was to makki ki roti/cornflour chapathi flat bread from Punjab, the land of five rivers or land of wheat (as it produce entire wheat crop for India). Okay then what; my only connection with Punjab is through movies and songs and wearing some Punjabi dresses. I haven’t eaten or see makki ki roti so dropped that idea too.

Finally I decide to make corn flour tortilla, because bread baking day event is one which I love. Nowadays there are too many events in blogosphere, it good in one sense, but difficult to make each and every specifications. So I am trying send to whatever matches with my posts.

I thought using corn flour alone will be difficult for me to shape and make the flat bread, so added some ½ cup of whole wheat flour which will give some gluten so that it is easy to shape the tortillas. I added some spices such as cumin powder and cayenne pepper to the dough. If you have tortilla press/roti maker in your hand, take out and use them. They will be great help; this is what I learned without using one of them. It was really hard to spread the dough with roller and terribly sticking to the board. So I used Ziploc bag above the board and covered the dough with another one and spread using the roller. It was difficult task, still I enjoyed making them. I served it with spiced kidney bean gravy/ Rajma masala. We enjoyed them. Here goes the recipe.

One year ago: Karingali vellam/ Herbed boiled water

Print recipe from here

What you need

Yellow corn flour/ Masa Harina: 11/2 cup
Whole wheat flour: ½ cup
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon
Cayenne pepper; ½ teaspoon
Warm water: 11/3 cups








How I made

In a medium bowl add yellow corn flour, whole wheat flour, salt, cumin powder, cayenne pepper and mix well. To this gradually add water to form smooth dough. Knead well and set aside. 

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and take each ball of dough and place it in a board lined with Ziploc bag, cover with another Ziploc bag and using a roller spread the dough 5-6 inch into thin circle.

Heat a dry large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot, and then cook tortillas, turning once, until puffed and browned in spots, 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and cover with a kitchen towel. 

Roll out and cook 11 more tortillas, stacking them on plate. Repeat until entire dough is finished. 

Serve warm with any spicy curry.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Yield: 12 no
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this delicious corn flour tortilla to  Bread baking day: 36 Corny breads hosted by Heather of Girlichef.  originally started by Zorra of Kochtopf.

Meatless Mondays hosted by Chaya of Sweet and Savory
Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays hosted by Rebecca Jean of Midnight Maniac
Monday mania hosted by  Sarah of  The healthy home economist
The Hearth and Soul Blog Hop