Mexico: Tortillas

Hello fellow food lovers!

I love tortillas and I eat them relatively often, because they are quick to do and can be made so different every time. There are absolutely no limits in what you can wrap inside them. What made my tortillas different from usual this time? Well, me and my boyfriend decided to make even the flatbread by ourselves. I have never tried to do it before, but since I eat them so often I've felt obliged to try it at least once. Surprisingly, the difference was astonishing. The fresh, warm bread baked on a cast iron pan was so much tastier than the hard and chewy ones you can buy from the store wrapped in plastic. And they weren't even complicated to do. Usually if something is not complicated in cooking, it means that there are long waiting times, but it wasn't like that either. The dough must only rest for 10 minutes or so. One more thing which has to be mentioned is the lovely smell of fresh bread which floats around the kitchen long after... Did I already manage to talk you into trying it? I hope so, because here's the recipe!

Tortilla Flatbread

5,5 dl Flour (I used 5 dl of wheat flour, and ½ dl of wholegrain Spelt flour (self-ground))
~1 tsp Salt
~1 tsp Baking powder
½ dl Olive Oil (I also ran into recipes which used vegetable shortener or lard, but since neither is available in my local stores, I decided to go with this version)
2 dl Water

Just mix the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl, then measure the liquids and add them in. Knead the ingredients to make an even dough. Pour the dough on a floured surface and form it into a rod. Divide the rod into ten pieces and roll them into balls. Let the balls of dough rest for ten-ish minutes. You can use that time for preparing the fillings for your tortillas, for example. When the time has passed, use a rolling pin to roll them out to make circular "pancakes". Heat up a cast-iron pan on a stove, but don't use any oil or butter anymore. You're supposed to bake the bread on a dry, hot surface. Keep the stove on medium-high temperature. When it is hot, bake the "pancakes" one at a time. 30 seconds per side should be enough, but you'll know the right time by observing the down side of the bread. When some brown spots start to appear, you may turn it.

I recommend you to enjoy them fresh and warm! But if some will be left over, you can turn them into a healthier version of tortilla chips by toasting them in the oven until crispy. Or then you can do it like we did, because there was one left over tortilla and we forgot it on the table, and the next day it was already pretty hard and tasted just like unsalted tortilla chips. This proves that you must never be afraid of failure in the kitchen because who knows, it might lead to some awesome discoveries!

Fillings are completely up to your imagination. Our tortillas were filled with salad composed of crispy ice-salad, tomatoes, cucumber and mandarin pieces, accompanied with fried and seasoned minced chicken meat, and self made (sour cream-based) salad dressing. Later in the evening the salad dressing also worked as dip for the chips. Note, that this meal can be made fully vegan.

Chinese style

Hello everyone!

Today is my birthday and I wanted to something I've never done before, but which would be very quick and simple to do. I was walking in a store and suddenly realized, as weird as it sounds, I have never made Chinese food. I saw it as a fun experiment, and based on my impressions on what Chinese food is like (I never really ate it in a restaurant even), this is what I ended up with (also with some help from my boyfriend, who is more familiar with the subject). 

Egg rice

Chicken stock

Salt

Rice 

Curry

Eggs (I used 2,5 dl of raw rice, and used 4 small eggs)

First bring water to the boil, the amount depending on the type of rice you're making. When the water is heating up, add chicken stock and salt. When it boils, add the rice and some curry. The seasoning will be absorbed by the rice and so it won't be as "boring" as plain rice with just salt. It will also bring some color to it. 

When the rice is done, move it aside. Heat up a frying pan and break the eggs on it, and scramble the eggs. The way you would do your scrambled eggs for breakfast. Then just mix the scrambled eggs with the rice. It sounded pretty interesting to me at first, but thought I'd give it a go and I wasn't disappointed. It was pretty good, the only problem was that I didn't use enough salt, but with proper seasoning, it tastes really delicious. 

Pork strips

Pork strips

Chinese soy sauce

Salt 

Pepper 

Ginger 

Okay, I kept this really simple, but the taste was gorgeous! So what I did, was just to fry the pork strips on a frying pan, adding the seasoning. I recommend you to use a lid on the pan, because the liquid from the meat makes a really nice a really nice sauce.

With the rice and pork I served Chinese work vegetables. I am ashamed to admit that I used simple frozen wok mix and put it on a pan... But sometimes time just doesn't allow you to do everything you'd want to. I have to say that it decreased the culinary pleasure of the meal.

Here in the end I would like to add a picture of a cake my boyfriend baked for me for my birthday, simply because it both looks and tastes really good, and is just very adorable.