Text 24867, 97 rader
Skriven 2008-12-10 12:16:58 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
  Kommentar till text 24822 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Holiday Foods
=====================
10 Dec 08 12:21, Robert Bashe wrote to Roy Witt:

 RB> Roy Witt wrote to Roger Nelson on Tuesday December 09 2008 at 12:20:

 RW>> Early on, I got tired of the blandness of the German dish of beef
 RW>> steak, potatoes and saur kraught.

 RB> Believe me, there are enough Germans who don't like sauerkraut. And
 RB> as for potatoes, you usually eat French fries with a steak in
 RB> Germany, or maybe other kinds of vegetables. You generally eat
 RB> sauerkraut with sausage and mashed potatoes - if you like the stuff.

That's what I was getting at. Although I still like mashed potatoes, I
detest fried potatoes and sauerkraut.

 RW>> I needed something to spice up my life, so I moved to San Diego
 RW>> where they had great Mexican food and above all else, jobs that paid
 RW>> me more than I was worth, so I could eat spicy food. :o)

 RB> On the other hand, I also like Mexican food. But unfortunately can't
 RB> get it here. Although the Germans have meanwhile adopted many foreign
 RB> dishes, Mexican food is not one. No Mexican restaurants here -
 RB> unfortunately. My wife occasionally makes Tacos, but no restaurant
 RB> here offers them.

Can you get or make soft tortillas? Ore-Ida makes a frozen potato mix of
potatoes with green and red bell peppers. If you add them frozen to a
tortilla with some Monterey Jack cheese, some chopped onions and whatever
hot spices you can find there in Germany, you can have a pretty good
burrito from the microwave oven. Add some taco meat if you like that.

 RB> And in particular: the taco shells you can buy here are either
 RB> overgrown Fritos (crispy) or wheat flour  (i.e. US-style) "tacos. The
 RB> real Mexican tacos, soft and made of lime-treated corn flour, are not
 RB> available or even known here in Europe. Maybe they're not preservable
 RB> enough to transport them. But I've never even seen the Mexican taco
 RB> flour here, or in thre Netherlands, where they tend to have more
 RB> foreign ingredients than in Germany.

Mexicans make both types of taco shells, flour and corn, also hard or
soft. As for tortilla flour, you can use general purpose flour. Frankly, I
prefer flour tortillas to corn.

Chewy Flour Tortillas

These tortillas have real body and taste; they are perfect for gorditas,
fajitas and eating out of hand.

    * 2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    * 1 teaspoon salt
    * 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
    * 3/4 cup lukewarm milk (2% is fine)

Stir together the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add the
salt and vegetable oil to the lukewarm milk and whisk briefly to
incorporate. Gradually add the milk to the flour, and work the mixture
into a dough. It will be sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with flour and knead vigorously
for about 2 minutes (fold and press, fold and press). The kneading will
take care of the stickiness. Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with a
damp cloth, and let it rest for 15 minutes. (This dough will not rise, but
it needs a rest.)

Divide your dough into 8 balls of equal size, cover them, and let them
rest again for about 20 minutes. Avoid letting them touch, if you don't
want them to stick together.

Dust your work surface with flour. Working one at a time, remove each
piece of dough and pat it into a 5-inch circle. With a rolling pin, roll
out the tortilla, working from the center out, until you have a 7- or
8-inch tortilla a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the tortilla
to a hot, dry skillet or griddle. It will begin to blister. Let it cook
for 30 seconds, turn it, and let the other side cook for 30 seconds.
Remove the tortilla, place it in a napkin-lined basket and cover with
aluminum foil. Repeat for the remaining tortillas.

Of course, if you had a tortilla press, this would be a lot easier. :o)

 RB> I still remember the time I visited my nephew in New Mexico... loved
 RB> the food there. Unfortunately, my dad didn't realize what was served
 RB> and nearly choked on the jalapino peppers in his food.

LOL! That is a very familiar scenario. My mom and dad visited us in
California and on their first visit, they wanted to try Mexican food. We
took them to a local Mexican restaurant that caters to 'gringo food' so
they wouldn't have a hard time with the hot spices. They loved it, but
both of them got sick afterwards. Too spicey for that German diet they
lived on at home. They never wanted to try it again on subsequent visits.

                R\%/itt



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