Posts Tagged ‘tortilla’

  1. Wok Fajitas! Fajitas in the Wok! Fajitas con Wok!

    March 30, 2012 by MaryAnne

    When it's slathered in cheese it looks almost exactly like the tacos I made last week...

    I bet you all think I live on tortillas and cookies, yearning for cheese and chocolate and fearfully snubbing the culinary options that surround me here in Shanghai.

    I mean, that’s pretty much what this blog indicates in its persistent quest narrative, chasing after elusive sachets of gelatine or powdered sugar (found the sugar but not the gelatine), with long hours spent over a hot keyboard trying to figure out how to make mozzarella cheese without rennet (or citric acid or lightly pasteurized milk, for that matter).

    I probably come across as a laowai so firmly jammed into her expat bubble that the thought of backing away from the toaster oven sends waves of homesickness and palpable fear coursing through her body.

    This is actually more indicative of how I eat outside the flat, on a day to day basis:

    Dumpling porn

    See, I can get marvellous stuff like this for cheap (these were 10rmb, or $1.50) everywhere around me.

    Most of my breakfasts are made up of a pot (or two) of coffee at home followed by steamed buns stuffed with tofu and greens or drippy barbecued pork, or hot and savoury tea eggs, or crispy fried rice cakes or savoury mung bean flour crepes stuffed with crispy fried wonton wrappers, chives, minced pickled veggies, cilantro and hoisin sauce en route to wherever I’m going.

    I like to maintain a balance. Cheese, chocolate and tortillas on the homefront; tofu, lotus root and grated radishes outside.

    (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 15 Comments

  2. Xinjiang Noodle Dough Enchiladas. Really.

    February 27, 2012 by MaryAnne

    They were freaking awesome.

    With my crock pot full of fermenting cabbage this month, I’ve had to start re-thinking my usual culinary fall-back techniques of, well, throwing everything in the fridge into the crock pot and hoping for the best.  Since I went a bit overboard on tacos and spaghetti bolognese last week, I thought I’d veer out into a whole new direction.

    Enchiladas!

    Now, when we were parked down in Oaxaca about three years ago, en route to wherever our money ran out, I ate a lot of enchiladas. I even ate zucchini blossom enchiladas on the Day of the Dead. I’ve had mole enchiladas of all hues, and have delved into both the roja and the verde. I’ve also had some lovely, bastardized, gringa’fied ones since- even some surprisingly good ones here in Shanghai.

    I haven’t, however, made enchiladas in Shanghai. I have no idea why, as I’m pretty much the Queen of Tacos and Quesadillas in this household (mainly because Doug can’t exactly be crowned Queen).

    However, with the crock pot being used elsewhere and my desire to delve into unexplored realms at a reasonable high, I started researching chicken enchiladas. (more…)

    Category Baked Things, Improbable Things, Milky Cheesy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 17 Comments

  3. Awesome Slow-Cooker Spicy Shredded Beef Tacos

    January 2, 2012 by MaryAnne

    Dinner of champions. You know you want one.

    I’ve been meaning to do a taco post for ages. It’s one of our dinner staples here these days. I’ve made beef tacos that were browned in the wok, then marinated in the jus from the de-glazing, sliced thinly and sauteed in garlic, onion and chilies. I’ve also done pulled pork ones and ground beef ones. All have been awesome and utterly Sino-friendly.

    About 3 years ago, we spent some time in Mexico before moving to Shanghai. It was there that I discovered the glories of piping hot soft tacos with spicy shredded beef and fresh salsa. These were tiny little flour tortillas the size of your palm, not the hard shells and certainly not those gargantuan wraps that you find in the supermarkets. They weren’t drowned in sour cream or fake cheddar. They were very simple and very good.

    Each little tortilla we found at street stalls had a dollop of something meaty (or beany) on it- maybe sauteed chorizo or shredded chicken or grilled beef or pork or some crispy body part hacked up into bite sized pieces- and was served with a few fresh salsas (verde, roja, fresca), cilantro, lime, maybe some onion. I was partial to the salsa verde but you can’t get fresh tomatillos here. They were magnificent.

    What we do here is very similar, or at least as similar as you can get when living in China.

    For the tortilla, I tend to use my Xinjiang noodle dough (3 cups flour, 1 cup water, 2 teaspoons salt, mix, knead, rest, roll-out) and roll it out very, very thinly. You could also try this one or this one. The thinness lets it puff up like a chapati in the wok and gives it a soft airiness that is delicious and chewy.

    I make my own salsa fresca with cherry tomatoes, cilantro, onion and chilies, marinated a few hours with lime juice (when limes are available) and a bit of crunchy kosher salt. If you can’t get fresh limes, then lemons will do, as will Chinese rice wine vinegar.

    Those are the basics.

    Today I want to show you how to make spicy shredded beef in the crock pot to go in the tacos. The recipe said it’d take 10 hours but mine was done in barely 5 hours. Go figure. (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 10 Comments

  4. A Tale of Two Tortillas

    September 21, 2011 by MaryAnne

    Yes, I know they should be circular.

    Note: For best results, this recipe should be attempted whilst accompanied by a very large pot of strong coffee and a little Nina Simone in the background. I used Anthology Disc 1. 

    This morning started out quite optimistically. I had done my research and had a fairly clear idea in my head what I wanted to achieve. I was going to attempt a small batch of corn tortillas, followed by a small batch of flour tortillas, just to see which turned out best for use in tonight’s quesadillas. Since I had done so well with the chapatis, I was feeling a bit cocky. Yeah, no.

    Let me tell you about what you shouldn’t do first. (more…)

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    Category Baked Things, Improbable Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,, | 11 Comments