Best Restaurants Corn Tortillas Recipes

CHEF JOHN'S CORN TORTILLAS

Steps:

• Add masa harina to a large bowl. Sprinkle in salt and add hot tap water. Stir mixture with your fingers until dough starts to pull together.
• Knead for a few minutes to smooth it out until texture resembles modeling clay or putty. Add more water if dough is too dry and more flour if too wet.
• Place a damp towel and over the dough to keep it from drying out. Let rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Cut a zip-top bag into 2 rounds the same size as your tortilla press. Place 1 round on the bottom of the press.
• Place a clean kitchen towel over a pie dish for holding the cooked tortillas later.
• Pull off a little piece of the dough, enough to roll into a 1 1/2-inch or 1-ounce ball. Remove the top round of plastic, place dough ball in the center of the bottom round, and press down lightly. Cover dough with the top piece of plastic.
• Fold the tortilla press over, apply pressure to the lever arm until tortilla flattens to your desired thinness.
• Peel off the top piece of plastic. Line up the index finger of your dominant hand with the edge of the tortilla; flip it over into your other hand. Carefully peel off the plastic.
• Gently slide tortilla, palm-up, into a hot, dry pan over medium- to medium-high heat. Cook first side for 30 to 45 seconds. Turn over and cook second side for 1 minute. Flip and press once or twice with a spatula until tortilla puffs up slightly. Cook for 30 seconds more. Flip one last time and cook for 5 to 10 seconds.
• Quickly transfer tortilla to the pie dish and fold the towel over to wrap it up. Repeat pressing and cooking the rest of the tortilla dough, stacking and wrapping as you go.
• Leave the stack of tortillas wrapped until soft and supple, at least 15 minutes.

HOMEMADE CORN TORTILLAS

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Cut in the lard. Stir in the water. Mix to incorporate. The dough should be slightly wet. Form the dough into a smooth ball, cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Place a little water on the hands and form the dough into golf ball-size balls. Take 2 pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap from a plastic bag and cut them to the shape of the surface of the tortilla press. Open the tortilla press and lay one piece of waxed paper on the press. Place the masa ball in the center. Place another piece of waxed paper over the masa ball. Gently close the press and press down, until the dough has spread to 6-inches in diameter.
• Heat a cast-iron griddle or a large nonstick skillet on high heat. Working with 1 tortilla at a time, hold a tortilla in your hand, carefully removing the wax paper on each side. Allow the tortilla to rest half on your hand, and half hanging down, and gently lay the tortilla down on to the hot skillet. Start working on pressing the next tortilla. Cook the tortilla on the hot pan for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. The tortilla should be lightly toasted and little air pockets forming.
• Heat 2-inches of canola oil in a heavy-bottomed medium skillet until it reaches 370 degrees F. Add the tortillas, 1 at a time and fry, turning once with tongs, until crispy, about 30 seconds. Remove to a baking sheet lined with paper towels and lightly season with salt.

RESTAURANT'S CORN TORTILLAS

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and form a dough.
• Take a handful of masa and make tortillas in your tortilla press.
• Cook on a teflon protected skillet or grill on both sides.

CORN TORTILLAS

Steps:

• Place the Nixtamal into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 10 to 15 times. Add 2 tablespoons of the water and pulse 8 to 10 times, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Add 2 more tablespoons of water along with the salt and pulse until a dough begins to form. If the dough is still dry and somewhat crumbly, add the remaining tablespoon of water and pulse several times. Turn the dough out onto the counter and shape into a ball. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap and allow to sit for 30 minutes. *You may also make tortillas from pre-ground masa flour following the directions on the bag.
• Preheat a cast iron griddle over medium-high heat until it reaches 400 degrees F.
• Divide the dough into 1 1/2-ounce portions, shape into balls, and keep covered with a damp tea towel.
• Cut a 1-gallon zip-top bag in half and line the base of a tortilla press with the plastic. Place 1 ball at a time onto the press and top with the other half of the plastic. Close the press and push down firmly several times until the tortilla is flattened. Remove the plastic wrap from the tortilla and place onto the cast iron skillet and cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove the tortilla to a plate lined with a tea towel. Cover the tortilla with a second towel to keep warm. Repeat with all of the dough. Use immediately or store in a zip-top bag in the refrigerator for up to a week.
• Nixtamal:
• Rinse the corn under cool water; drain and set aside.
• Place the water and the lime into a 3 1/2 to 4-quart, non-reactive stockpot, set over medium-low heat, and stir to combine. Add the corn and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure that it takes at least 30 to 45 minutes to come to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, remove from the heat, cover, and allow to sit at room temperature overnight. Do not refrigerate.
• Drain the corn in a large colander and rinse under lukewarm water for 5 to 6 minutes while rubbing the corn kernels between your fingers in order to remove the outer coating. Place the corn into a large bowl, cover with lukewarm water, and allow to soak for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain, rinse, and repeat. Use immediately to make masa dough for tortillas.

CORN TORTILLAS ENCHILADAS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Brown ground beef and drain.
• Mix in 1 cup salsa.
• Mix in 1/2 can of enchilada sauce.
• Season with salt, pepper, onion salt and paprika.
• In a 9x12-inch pan spray bottom with cooking spray.
• Pour 1/2 can of enchilada sauce on bottom of pan. Make sure bottom is covered in sauce.
• Layer 6 corn tortillas to cover bottom.
• Spoon beef mixture over tortillas.
• Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheddar cheese or enough to cover beef.
• Layer with tortillas to cover beef.
• Pour remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas.
• Cover with rest of cheese.
• Bake for 30 minutes.