If there is something that I have eaten the most in my life I can probably mention 5 main ingredients and one of them is certainly corn. Both my grandmothers make tamales, bollos, empanadas and tortillas. While growing up my traditional Sunday breakfast would consist of seasonal fruits, hot tea, two proteins and 2 fried foods, maybe one tortilla and an empanada, or a tortilla and a carimañola (fried stuffed yuca empanada). The two proteins were either eggs and cheese, or cheese and meat. The vegetarian/vegan options: beans and dairy-free cheese. A good tortilla can be eaten on its own as it should taste like pure corn and a touch of queso fresco.

When I first came to DC many folks asked me why I talked so much about the Panamanian tortilla, why do I have to make it myself and can’t I just buy it at grocery stores. I haven’t found Panamanian tortillas in DC or NYC, nor when I visited the West Coast. I have found arepas (Venezuelan and Colombian corn dish) but the only ones that I’ve enjoyed are served at restaurants and not sold at grocery stores. I enjoy the Central American and Mexican tortillas, which you find everywhere, but they are something completely different than what I look for when craving a Panamanian tortilla.

I thought making my own tortillas would be very complicated since I never made them myself in Panama. My grandma visited (still does) during the weekends and would bring her tamales and tortillas so we never had to make them at home. I did help my grandma many times to make tamales back in Panama and it was a full day of work (she made by the hundreds), more on tamales soon, I really owe my grandma a tamal post!

I don’t own a food processor, but I borrowed one and then making the tortillas was then a piece of cake. Seriously, you HAVE to make these tortillas, if only for a one time brunch.

You can also grind the cooked corn in a traditional molino like this one, and I own one, but I wanted to experiment with the food processor, plus I don’t have the proper table to use a molino in my apartment.

I have so much to share when it comes to corn and many anecdotes with my grandma’s corn dishes, but I’ll keep it short and go straight to the recipe.

Recipe for Panamanian Corn Tortillas
Makes 6-8 Tortillas

Ingredients:
1 lb of uncooked Golden Hominy Corn (dried corn)
5 oz of queso fresco (creamy unaged cheese you can find even at Giant or Whole Foods)
3 tbs of unsalted butter (you could leave this out or use margarine/coconut butter)
Oil for deep frying (read notes for baking the tortillas instead)
Salt
Water

Directions:
1. You can leave the corn overnight soaking in water and rinse thoroughly before cooking in the pot.
2. I decided to make tortillas the same day I bought the ingredients so instead I rinsed the corn and then cooked it in a pot filled with water 2-3 inches above the surface of the corn. (Add some salt to the water like you do when cooking pasta).
3. Cook at medium-high heat (simmer) 50 mins-1 hour until corn looks more plumped and breaks softly when you bite into it, but not too soft.
4. You can get rid of the water once the corn it’s cooked or you could save it to make Chicha de Masa (another upcoming recipe post)
5. Once your corn is cooked and still warm, divide it in two parts to work it easier in the food processor, adding butter, cheese and salt.
6. If your masa (dough) is too dry, you can add a bit of the water to make it softer. (I prefer my dough a little on the drier side).
7. Taste the dough before you remove it from the processor, you need to make sure it has a touch of salt before frying them.
8. Once all the corn has been ground with the cheese, salt and butter, work it with your hands and shape* balls with an amount of 1/3 cup approximately of the dough to end up with tortillas 2.5″x2.5″
9. Once you have a few tortillas shaped it is a good moment to start frying them and serve immediately.

NOTES:
– It’s always better to eat the tortillas right after they’ve been fried, but you could also fry them all in advance and then reheat them at 425F in the oven for 3-4 minutes.
– Baked Tortillas: you can bake the tortillas in the oven 3-4 mins per side at 450F, they won’t get very crispy but they will still be delicious and without any oil.
– Shape them thin to make a Tortilla Sandwich, it’s wonderful and a different way to eat the tortillas.
– It made a difference to use a food processor over a molino, but it was pretty practical and the dough was still a bit crumbly the tortillas held their shape and fried just fine.
– You can add other ingredients to the masa, for my upcoming empanadas recipe I added herbs and spices, so get creative!

* Shaping the dough: When forming your balls of dough, you can shape it several ways, with a ball in your hand and going around with the fingers until getting the shape that you like, or you could put the ball between to plastic sheets and rolled out flat with a rolling pin. Once the dough is flat you can either push it forming it to look like a circle or cut with a big plastic container or anything that has a circle shape and an edge to use as a cutter.

Yuca and Corn Empanadas and Tortillas are among my most favorite fried foods.

This is how I had my tortillas fritas, as an open egg sandwich and a side of queso fresco and peaches.  Such a great brunch dish to start summer, highly recommended!

¡a comer!

The things one can do with a Ricer â¥

The main reason I’d suffer if I went on zero carb diet: no yuca

A yuca memory of mine: Dad asks my mom “Yilla when are you cooking yuca?”(she did every few weeks).  

Mom is stirring a pot of Cow’s Foot soup, in a 98F kitchen, with no fan, no A/C, with my brother and sister playing Nintendo, and me reading a book.  She yells back (louder than was necessary) “Anytime, but you have to peel it…I’m not doing that!” –

Mom walks out of the kitchen to look for my dad.   He is already outside, getting in the car and yelling back at her: “Heat up 2 pots, I’m bringing back about 8 pounds!” 

She walks back in the kitchen, shakes her head, and smiles and continues to stir the soup.

The story above is a testament to the toughest part of preparing yuca, peeling it.  Yes, you can buy peeled yuca but only frozen (that’s the only way I’ve found it in DMV area, back in Panama you can get fresh peeled yuca in sealed packages).

Here is a good instructional video for peeling Yuca made by a Yuca exporting company out of Costa Rica (click here)

…Just Kidding! I would never expect anyone to use a Rambo machete/knife and slice yucca that way… but that was pretty badass!

Here is a video demonstrating a more regular method: (peeling action starts at 2:40 click here)

The video actually shows a different peeling method than the one I use, but the yuca available in this area has some sort of wax coating (thicker than what I’ve seen), so it’s safer to peel it like the man on the videp: slice off the skin with a knife.

Once you have peeled the yuca, cut into equal sized pieces. Fill up at pot with cold water  and place  the cut yuca inside. Bring everything to a boil, add salt to taste.

You can stuff the carimañolas with any savory filling. Traditional Panamanian carimañolas are stuffed with ground beef, but boohoo I’m vegetarian (not anymore, but I still make them vegetarian update: 10/07/2013) now so, yes, I will make something different and delicious (of course purists will say, it’s not called carimañola anymore! But, guess what…? I don’t care!!!) **smiles lightly and walks back to the kitchen’s sink to wash her hands, eyes still locked on the camera** (yes i’m pretending I’m filming…OK? hehe)

Enough babbling, here is the recipe:

Vegetarian Carimañolas (yuca empanadas)

Yields: 20 carimañolas

4-5 lbs of yuca (Protip: Always buy more than the recipe calls for. The yuca is not always good underneath the waxy peel).

Tip: You can substitute non-stick spray or just flour instead of oil so the carimañolas don’t stick. 

Filling

(Make sure your filling has cooled off before you even start boiling the yuca, this makes the empanadas easier to fill)

—

Instructions
1.  Heat up a pan with 1 tbs of oil (until hot, near its smoke point)
2.  Saute all the veggies, add the garlic, seasonings, mushroom, crushed tomatoes and the juice you got out of sauteing the mushrooms.
3.  Lower the heat to simmer, add ketchup and soy sauce, taste. If you want to add some heat, go ahead and go wild with sriracha, chillies, tabasco, etc.
4.  Cool off before cooking the yuca.

1. Boil the yucca until it almost breaks apart.  Strain and remove the hard root in the middle of each yuca. Some roots will fall but some will still be stuck on the yuca. Put aside the hard pieces and save them to fry later on since you won’t be able to mash them properly.
2. While piping hot, pass the boiled yuca through a ricer.
3. Have your bowls ready with filling, grated cheese & oil, and a flat oiled plate or cookie sheet to place the carimañolas once you shape them.
4. Oil your hands a bit and grab about 2 tbs of the mashed yuca, place it in your palm and make a rectangular shaped ball. Push the middle in a bit and add 2 tps of the filling with some cheese on top. With your fingers push the filling in and close back the ball.  If it becomes difficult to seal, you can add extra mashed yuca to close them completely.
5. Keep prepared carimañolas in the fridge until you are ready to fry them. Good news if they didn’t seal so well on your first try, you can still enjoy them: just saute them on butter! (Doesnâ€t that make everything better?) This way they won’t split open in the middle of frying.  Besides, I just like adding fat to this already fatty deliciousness.

 

Cilantro-Cheesy Yuca Balls

NOTES:
–  I like to make a double batch of the filling or fry an egg, and serve these carimañolas with a side of fruit and queso fresco for breakfast.
–  If you have leftover boiled yuca, it keeps fora few days in the fridge. Same deal with the carimañolas, many people freeze them and just fry as needed.
–  If you have leftover mashed yuca and don’t feel like making any more carimañolas, just add some cheese and chopped cilantro like I did on that pic with the balls, and fry them also…breading them would work well too… carimañolas schnitzel!!!! OK, I have to chill out now… Just cook with yuca! Deal?!

Rest of the pictures on FB click here 

¡a comer!