Tortilla is a thin flat cake of unleavened dough mixed with wheat or high-quality corn flour. They can be eaten simply instead of bread, or cooked with toppings. Mexican-style tortilla fried in butter is called toastados; there are also varieties of dishes such as quesadilla, burrito, enchilado, tacos. All these are tortillas, but with different fillings, they have one thing in common: cheese is always used in the filling.
Mexican tortilla dishes with cheese - general principles of preparation
The dough for tortillas can be of two types: traditional from corn or from wheat flour. Cooking it is quite simple, all that is needed is, in fact, flour, water, butter from cow's milk, salt. If you do not want to bother yourself with the manufacture of cakes, they can be purchased ready-made at any large supermarket.
Traditional tortillas for Mexican cuisine are also in demand in our cuisine. They are served fried in butter for tea or instead of bread, but more often some tasty filling is wrapped in such flat cakes, the cheese being an essential component of it.
Depending on the type of filling, each dish has its own name. For example, if you put light-melting hard cheese in the filling or add it with minced meat, you get quesadilla. Tortilla with cheese, boiled chicken and vegetables, baked with a special tomato sauce, is called enchilada in Mexican cuisine. Burrito - similar to European fast food tortilla with cheese and beans.
From tortilla with cheese, you can quickly make a delicious pie or wrap fried meat with light vegetable salad and cheese in such cakes. You will get something similar to shawarma, in Mexican cuisine - tacos.
The final cooking step is warming up. The rolled cakes are not fried, but rather they are heated in a dry pan so that they are only slightly browned. So they become crispy, the cheese inside melts a little and becomes viscous.
The easiest tortilla cheese recipe - Quesadilla
Ingredients
For cakes:
butter "Farm" butter - 100 gr.;
half a spoonful of fine salt;
one and a half glasses of water;
wheat or corn flour - 600 gr.
In the filling, on four tortillas:
120 gr. any semi-hard cheese.
Cooking method:
Sift the flour into a spacious, convenient for kneading bowl. Add salt, melted and chilled oil and cool water. First, stirring with a spoon, then moving on to a manual batch, prepare the dough. It comes out soft and almost does not stick to the palms.
We roll out the dough with a very thin layer and, using a plate as a stencil, cut out circles.
Spreading the workpiece on a dry frying pan, lightly fry on both sides, not allowing to brown. Tortillas are better not to fry a little than to dry.
At least 20 flat cakes come out of this portion of dough. They can be prepared for future use, since tortillas are stored for a long time, if they are kept in a tightly tied bag.
Grind cheese - rub on medium or large grater.
We spread the cheese chips in a sufficiently thick layer along one of the flat cakes, put another one on top.
Gently transfer the “structure” to a heated pan and fry over low heat. Warming up one side for a minute, carefully turn it over to the other.
We cut the hot cakes into four parts and immediately serve with any hot sauce.
"Quesadilla" - Mexican tortilla with cheese and minced meat
Ingredients:
half a liter can of tomatoes, canned in tomato juice;
300 gr mixed, low-fat mincemeat;
1/2 cans of sweetcorn
cheese - 200 gr.;
a spoonful of vegetable oil;
four tortilla cakes.
Cooking method:
Pour oil into a frying pan or a thick-walled stewpan. Putting it on medium heat, warm it well.
Distribute the minced meat evenly over the bottom of the pan. After waiting a minute, we begin to mix, trying to break to the maximum the meat that is clumped by lumps. Fry over medium heat for about three minutes, until the color changes. In the middle of the process, add the tomatoes sliced in slices, and a minute before cooking, add and season with pepper to your liking.
After removing from the heat, we interfere with the canned corn in the minced meat and let the filling cool slightly.
Rub the cheese with a coarse or fine grater and sprinkle them flat cakes, only half of each.
We spread the minced meat along the cheese chips and cover the filling, wrapping the free side of the cakes on it.
Well warming the grill pan, fry the cakes, bringing to a slight blush on both sides. Please note that you do not need to oil the pan. If there is no grill, you can use any pan.
"Enchilada" - tortilla with cheese and chicken in tomato sauce
Ingredients:
tortilla - five cakes;
70 grams of "Russian" cheese;
boiled chicken breast - one filet;
a small onion head;
garlic;
sweet pepper - half a large fruit;
one fresh tomato and 100 grams canned in its own juice;
a spoonful of refined oil.
Cooking method:
Finely chop the onion and two garlic cloves. The pulp of sweet pepper, fresh and canned tomatoes, cut too small.
Pass the onions with garlic in oil until transparent, add sweet pepper with tomatoes and simmer for seven minutes under the lid. At the end, add salt, for the sake of sharpness, you can add red pepper.
Cooling slightly, transfer the contents to the blender bowl, interrupt until puree.
We cut the boiled breast into strips or small cubes, rub cheese through a coarse grater.
We measure out a third of the cooked sauce, mix with chicken.
We spread on a flat cake, closer to the edge, two tablespoons of meat filling and wrap it with a roll. In this way we prepare all the tortillas.
The resulting rolls are tightly packed in a refractory form, abundantly watered with the remaining sauce and covered with cheese.
We put the form in the oven, bake the enchiladas at 180 degrees until golden brown.
Tacos is a simple Mexican tortilla appetizer with cheese, meat and fresh vegetables
Ingredients:
five tortilla cakes;
250 gr any boiled meat;
tomato sauce or ketchup;
half a cup of canned corn;
Tabasco sauce;
fresh bell peppers - large pepper;
Beijing cabbage or leaf lettuce.
Cooking method:
Shred Beijing cabbage with short, fairly thin strips. If you decide to use lettuce, finely chop them. The pulp of peeled bell pepper cut into strips.
Cut the boiled meat into thin strips. However, it is not necessary to use it, for snacks any meat products are suitable: sausage, ham, sausages or smoked meats, including chicken.
Combine the meat cuts with vegetables. Add the corn and grate cheese to them, mix.
Fold the cakes in half, fill with the filling and slightly warm on a dry ordinary or grill pan. Fresh vegetables, therefore, so as not to spoil the main taste, we warm for a short time. It is enough to withstand a minute on each side.
Serve such an appetizer in a warm form, adding to the filling after heating with sauces, to your taste. When cooling, the cakes become soft, the taste of the dish is lost.
"Burito" - Mexican-style fast food tortilla with cheese, beans and beef
Ingredients:
beef (pulp) - 300 gr.;
large onion;
one bell pepper;
garlic;
chili pepper pod;
two small fresh tomatoes;
a jar of white beans;
a bunch of fresh cilantro;
80 grams of hard cheese
four tortillas;
three tablespoons of non-aromatic oil;
a small lemon;
half a spoon of ground coriander.
Cooking method:
We wash the flesh with water, cut into very thin strips, almost straws. Be sure to dry the meat and take a sharp knife, the wet flesh will slip out of your hands, and a blunt knife will not allow you to cut it thinly.
Finely less often, chili pepper directly with seeds, onions and three small cloves of garlic.
Fry pieces of beef in butter until golden brown, add a little water, add salt and stew the meat until soft. At the end, moisture should not remain in the pan with meat. Put the beef on a plate.
In the pan, with the remaining meat juice and oil in it, put the onions. Fry until golden brown, add bell pepper and chili, stirring slowly, fry for two minutes. Cook over medium heat, do not cover the pan with a lid.
We spread previously fried meat to vegetables, add garlic. Sprinkle with coriander and stirring, warm for another minute. Now we spread the tomatoes finely chopped, mix everything and simmer for another one and a half minutes.
Drain all the liquid from the jar with beans, crush the grains with a fork and transfer to a pan. Adding finely chopped cilantro, mix well, setting maximum heat. Sprinkle the filling with lemon juice.
On flat cakes, closer to the edge, put two thin slices of cheese and put hot meat filling on them. Having supplemented with a sprig of cilantro, we turn it in the form of a roll or an envelope.
Quickly warm the parcels in a dry frying pan. It is advisable that it be a grill pan.
Serving burrito is recommended with sour cream and garlic sauce, generously flavored with herbs.
Tortilla pie with cheese
Ingredients:
tortillas - six cakes;
sweet cream butter - 50 gr.;
200 gr. any natural cheese;
Feta cheese - 300 gr.;
one egg;
three spoons of dark sesame seeds.
Cooking method:
Butter cut into small pieces. Putting it in a saucepan, set it on a small fire. Once all the pieces have melted, remove from the stove.
In a separate bowl on a coarse grater, grind hard cheese.
We spread the cakes on the table, with a culinary brush, grease the surface with each melted butter.
Sprinkle plenty of cakes with hard cheese, and paint it with Fetu fingers.
Turn tortillas in the form of rolls.
We line the round shape with parchment paper and grease it well with the remains of melted butter.
We lay out prepared tortilla rolls in a circle.
Lubricate the surface of the future cake with a beaten egg, sprinkle with sesame seed.
Put the form in the oven, bake for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Let the finished cake cool slightly in the form and only after that take it out.
Cheese tortilla - cooking tips and tricks
An important point - the dough should be rolled out very thinly, the thickness of the layer should not exceed 2 mm. When frying, set the minimum heat, do not allow the browning to brown, since in the future it will still be fried.
So that during the cooking process, the finished tortillas do not dry out, the cakes should be stacked under a linen towel and cooled only under it.
If you have prepared a lot of cakes, put them in a tightly closed bag for storage. Keep at room temperature, do not refrigerate.
Use high-quality cheese that melts easily when heated. To enhance the taste, you can add different types of cheeses, such as feta or mozzarella.
It is preferable to serve tortilla dishes with cheese with hot garlic Salsa sauces.
