Blue Corn Tortillas

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By Popular Request

I spent a couple of days over the Easter Holidays in Galway City during the Galway Food Festival this year. This was my first time attending the festival and was delighted when I got invited to do a demonstration at the Visiting Chefs' Area. The theme of the festival was Food and Community, and feeling it was most appropriate, I decided to talk a little bit about Mexican Masa (the dough we make tortillas from) and show the gorgeous things you can make with it....

As many of you know, I come from a family of tortilla bakers of three generations. Growing up, I spent time with my grandpa Pedro learning the ins and outs of tortilla baking the traditional way. My own father, also a Pedro, had a couple of tortilla bakeries too and up to his retirement, we all worked at one time or another in the family business. Although I ran a mile away from the tortilla baking business as soon as I had the chance, the lessons learnt were not wasted and when I moved to Ireland, I was quick to remember all those tips my granddad and my dad taught me. Once a tortilla baker, always a tortilla baker dad would say!

These days, I can talk about masa until your ears bleed. It's an amazing thing! My grandad used to say that masa was alive, and until I came to Ireland and made tortillas by hand, I understood what he really meant by this. It is gluten free, super low in calories and although there is no raising agent in it at all, it rises during the cooking process.

Because masa is made of nixtamalised corn it is very, very nutricious. Nixtamalised corn is corn that has been soaked and cooked in an alcaline solution that breaks the hull that surrounds the corn kernel (that awful little skin that usually sticks in between your teeth when you're eating corn in the cob and that otherwise it is practically impossible for our bodies to digest) and it turns it into fiber, allowing our digestive system to process the corn and to have full access to its nutritional value.

Masa-Harina, which is the dihidrated verstion of masa is easier to work with in a domestic environment and it makes the tortilla making process much more approachoable at home. The blue variety we sell at Picado is great and it makes super tasty tortillas. Although the ones I demonstrated at the Galway Food Festival resisted to rise (mainly cos I didn't have hot water at hand), they were tasty and gave everybody the idea of how easy making tortillas at home is.

The press is a bit of an investment, but for any Mexican food enthusiast worth their salt, a must. It makes the pressing of perfectly round tortillas effortless and it allows you to go through a quantity of masa quite quickly.  Here's the recipe for you!  Just remember that when you make tortillas, you are baking  and weather does affect your masa. Start with the lower amount of water in the recipe if the day is very wet and gradually add a little more if needed. If the day is as dry and sunny as today is here, use the full amount. The goal is to have a dough that feels like playdough only a little stickier.

If you have any leftovers of tortillas, cool them completely and wrap them in a clean teatowel. Then stick them into a sealable plastic bag and keep them in the fridge. They keep well for about 4 days in the fridge. After that you can use them to make tortilla soup, chilaquiles, tostadas or homemade tortilla chips! This gorgeous shot of the blue corn taco we made during the demo in Galway was shot by the ever amazing lady that is Brenda Romero on the day so photo courtesy of her. Thank you Brenda and John for coming to see us up that day!

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