Potato masa tortillas
Santiago Lastra's ingenious recipe for tortillas made only from mashed potato, potato starch and salt solves the problem of the inaccessibility of freshly cooked and milled dried corn kernels (fresh corn masa) outside of Mexico.
“We have developed alternative options with ingredients that are at their best pretty much anywhere in the world, such as wheat flour, potato and starch to create alternatives to masa and tortillas. Remember the Mexican rule: ‘a tortilla is only ready after if puffs’. You can make the mashed potato a couple of days in advance and store in the refrigerator.”
This recipe is taken from Mexican Soul: A New Style of Cooking by Santiago Lastra (£30, Quadrille Publishing Ltd).
Santiago says: “If you can’t find potato starch, you can make a similar dough with 200g mashed potatoes, 2 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp plain flour and 1 tbsp neutral oil. This version of the dough is not as flexible, so the tortillas might not puff up as much, but they will still be great for making tacos.”
Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
- 500g of new potatoes
- 250g of potato starch, plus extra for dusting
- 5g of fine salt
Equipment
- ricer
- Tortilla press (or use 2 heavy pans)
Method
Place the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes, then drain and remove the skins whilst hot. Pass the flesh through a ricer, sieve (strainer) or mash with a potato masher to create a smooth paste
- 500g of new potatoes
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hands until homogenous (adding a little splash of water if needed)
- 250g of potato starch
- 5g of fine salt
Cut out 2 squares of baking parchment and dust them with potato starch
- potato starch, extra for dusting
Take a piece of masa weighing around 35g between the 2 squares
Press in a tortilla press (or between 2 heavy pans)
Remove the tortilla from the press and remove the baking parchment, then gently reapply it so that the paper is still protecting the tortilla but is not stuck to it. Repeat with the remaining potato masa
Heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat and cook 1 of the tortillas (removing the paper first) for 1 minute until it releases from the pan and moves easily around
Then flip and cook for a further 30-45 seconds
Flip one more time and increase the heat to high – the tortilla will puff up
Once puffed, cook for a further 10 seconds, then remove and wrap in a cloth to keep warm
Repeat with the remaining tortillas and then serve hot
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