Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Cassava Flour Tortillas

It pleases me when I make something that is universally enjoyed.  This time it was cassava flour tortillas.

These are pretty quick and easy to make.  The hardest thing is finding the cassava flour.  And the arrowroot flour...


Cassava Tortillas

3/4 cup cassava flour
3 Tablespoons arrowroot flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons avocado oil...or use a solid shortening
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons warm-ish water

Start your skillet heating, preferably a cast iron skillet heating on medium heat.  After ten minutes raise to medium-high heat when you are almost ready to cook the tortillas.

In a large bowl mix the flours and salt.  Add the oil and stir well with a wooden spoon. If using solid shortening, use your hands to blend together.  Add the warm water and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball... it forms really quickly.

Divide into 8 pieces and roll into balls.

You can almost see the tortilla press under the waxed paper.

Place a large piece of waxed paper in your nice new cast iron tortilla press, or place between two sheets of waxed paper and roll out, but not too thin.  Experience will teach you how thin to roll.

Place one at at time on the hot skillet.  Cook 15-30 seconds, until "bubbles" form on top.  Flip over for another 15-30 seconds.

Enjoy as soon as you like.  Yes, they are flexible.  I don't know if they would still be flexible tomorrow because each time I have made them they have been wolfed down in about 5 minutes flat!

Food Friday: Plantain Tortillas

Recently I have been trying harder to eat whole-food plant-based things.  Sister C told us about some plantain tortillas her daughter makes for a grandson who has many food allergies.  I had to go out and do a few errands (going to the post office to pay the overage on a missionary letter, go to AAA, and since AAA is right next to Winco....) so I picked up three plantains.  Knowing nothing about them, I did not know if they were ripe or not.  I still don't but I made these tortillas when we got home after make a grilled cheese sandwich for Dear One who almost certainly would not be interested in the tortillas.

This is the recipe which Sister C's daughter sent us.

1 pound plantains, peeled and chopped

1/3 cup avocado oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Put all ingredients in a Vitamix or food processor and grind on low for a minute or two then raise the speed to high.  You want a VERY smooth dough apparently. I think it was a total of two minutes when I shut off the Vitamix.

plantain dough ready to go

Using a 3 Tablespoon portion scoop, I made 6 piles on each of two cookie sheets with Silpat mats on them.  I spread them out to about 6 inches across then cooked them in a 400 degree F. oven for 10 minutes, then 15 more minutes (this was the first pan because I wanted to get going on eating them). 

By the time the 15 minutes was ready to go, I put the second pan in the oven.  After that 15 minutes, I took the first pan out of the oven.  Sadly, I did not set the timer again and answered the phone which was Sister J.  We had a wonderful talk.  When I remembered the second pan of tortillas, well, can I say they were over-cooked?

Cooked just about right

By this time I was ready to eat.  The over-cooked one that was the most colorful I decided to try.  Amazingly, it was not too bad.  I would not give it to Dear One, but I did not mind it at all.  I had a second one with refried black beans and pepper jack cheese on it.  It was so good that I had another one.  And another.  

A snick over-cooked but still tasty

Don't think blood sugar or scales will be thanking me in the morning, but they were not bad.  At all.

So I asked Dear One if he wanted a plantain tortilla with refried beans and cheese on it.  He shook his head.  Well, I do NOT like to take no for an answer so I put one on a plate, shredded pepper jack cheese on it, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds then handed it to him on the couch.  He wanted to know what it was so I told him...pepper jack cheese.  When I got back to the living room, the plate was empty!!!  I asked about it and he said it was not bad.  High praise indeed!

Food Friday: Scratch Tortillas

This morning I was cleaning out the pantry.  There I found a bag of fresh flour tortillas.  Our son must have added them to the shelf.  These made me salivate for some nice bean burritos.  Especially since we had two lovely avocados, a tomato, and a jalapeño.

Time to make tortillas....

This time I did not get out the recipe but made them without checking.  This is what I did.

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
3/4-1 cup hot water

In a medium sized bowl I mixed the flour, baking powder, and salt.  After pouring in the canola oil, I added 1/2 cup hot water and stirred well. Too dry, so I added more water until a soft pliable dough was formed.

Covered the bowl for ten minutes while the 12-inch cast iron frying pan heated up over medium heat.

Divided the dough into five pieces, but should have divided it into 8 pieces as the tortillas were too large.  If that is possible....

Rolled out each piece until it was nice and thin, evenly thin, then popped them into the skillet to cook.  It took a couple minutes to cook.  When there will little "bubbles" of dough showing on the top of the tortilla, I flipped them over and let them cook on the second side.

When they were cooked I put them on a clean kitchen cloth then covered with another cloth.

These were really yummy with homemade fat-free refried beans, guacamole, and shredded lettuce on them.  Too good. I ate two of them.  You know they were pretty good because Dear One ate two of them plain!