Cornmeal Tortillas

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening or oil
• 1 cup boiling water
• Waxed paper

In a bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour and salt. Stir it up while the water is coming to a boil. Use a metal measuring cup to measure the water, if possible. Plastic melts, and glass sometimes shatters, so a metal measuring cup is the safest type when you measure boiling water. To continue, place the shortening in the bowl with the cornmeal and flour. Pour the boiling water over everything and stir it up with a fork. Stir and stir because it will lump up quite a bit before it turns into dough. Allow the mixture to cool. Divide the dough into 10 lumps about the size of golf balls. Roll each ball out very thinly between sheets of waxed paper. Loosen and remove the top sheet of paper, and lay the tortilla down on a hot dry skillet, with the bottom sheet of waxed paper still attached, and now on top. After the tortilla cooks for a few seconds, the remaining sheet of waxed paper will easily loosen for removal. When the underside of the tortilla is dry with a few brown spots, turn it and cook the other side.

I usually roll out two tortillas at a time, and continue rolling as the prepared ones cook. This recipe makes 10 corn tortillas. This is just enough to prepare my Enchiladas recipe.

This recipe is not really authentic. It has been adjusted to make use of ingredients available in most supermarkets. You would have to use Masa Harina cornmeal to make real tortillas (and you would probably need a tortilla press too). This recipe uses plain cornmeal which is readily available to most people.