MEXICO: HOMEMADE CORN TORTILLAS

 

When my husband I moved to Italy we were very excited about eating authentic Italian food, but soon we started craving other types of cuisines, and in our town, finding other types of cuisines is not so easy. Mexican food is especially scarce. So, we started making our own tacos, including the tortillas. We have become so good at it that we often prefer our own homemade tacos now to the ones we get in a restaurant. 

To be clear, these tortillas are still not what you'll get in Mexico, or tortillas that have been made with fresh ground corn that has been nixtamalized, but the next best thing is to buy a tortilla press and Masa Harina. The Masa is mixed with water and some salt, you roll the mixture into little balls, and then press each ball on the tortilla press between wax paper or plastic, so it doesn't stick. Then place the raw tortilla onto a very hot skillet with a bit of oil. Flip it a few times and you've got a hot fresh tortilla. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. 

Fill them with either roasted chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp, and different types of homemade salas, and avacado. 

A book by an author from Mexico to go with your tacos: 

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

"Signs Preceding the End of the World is one of the most arresting novels to be published in Spanish. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there's no going back.

"Traversing this lonely territory is Makina, a young woman who knows only too well how to survive in a violent, macho world. Leaving behind her life in Mexico to search for her brother, she is smuggled into the US carrying a pair of secret messages - one from her mother and one from the Mexican underworld." 

Yuri Herrera was born in Actopan, Mexico in 1970, studied in Mexico and El Paso, and took his PhD at Berkley. Signs Preceding the End of the World was shortlisted for the Rómulo Gallegos Prize and won the best-translated book award in 2016.