I scoured the internet for recipes but found that there was a lot of variety in what you stuffed them with. For my first attempt I wanted to keep it simple so I just used beans and cheese.
In my attempt I found that getting the dough the correct consistency was the most difficult part. I picked up a bag of masa from the Mexican grocery and followed the instructions on the bag but the dough was too dry to work with easily After adding more water I had much more success (also watching the video of this experienced lady shape the dough really helped me figure out how it should work. I'd be lost without YouTube instructions sometimes). Keeping wet hands was really helpful in getting the filled ball flattened at shaped.
You can see the difference between my first attempt and later attempts. The first one in the middle broke apart because the dough was too dry.
I'm not sure if this is something I'd try again. They seemed like more trouble then they were worth, but they might be better with some leftover taco meat as filling and packed up for lunches.
Oh man I'm so excited you made these! I would search them out in Mexico, those and the corn on the cob with mayonnaise, crumbled cheese, lime juice, and hot sauce....yum......anyway, you might have inspired me to try to make them sometime. Or do you just want to visit us in Harlem and make them for us......???? Oh, and I think more lard is always the answer.
ReplyDeleteI bet somewhere in NYC you can find a place that makes a good and cheap one. I wasn't too impressed with my attempt so I'm going to have to try eating one from a professional to analyze where I might have gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Harlem goes, once John has survived a year we will be on our way to visit for sure.