July 7th 2014 quezadillas by white lady

Hello everyone! Sorry for the long delay between posts, no excuses just busy and lazy on this end of the world!

So I've been cooking stuff the last few weeks and I thought I'd teach you about Mexican quezadillas. I'm not referring to quesadillas which are cheese melted in flour tortillas, rather I'm talking about one of Mexico City's preferred street snacks made with fried corn masa and a wide choice of different possible fillings!  I was so happy a few months back when we were able to order some Maseca for corn tortillas and a friend from one of the military bases here brought them to us!
                                                                     

Finding ingredients here for Mexican cooking is almost impossible so I only have what we have brought in ourselves or like in this case, were able to order. Anyway, on to the quezadillas! I wasn't able to bring with me my tortilla press from the states so I had to improvise. Instead of the press, I used my cutting board, a couple of circles cut from a plastic grocery type bag, a small rolling pin and a pot with two handle for even balance.

First I made the Masa.

2 cups Maseca flour,1/2 cup regular flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and between 1 1/2 and 2 cups of hot water from the tap.(This is the same recipe for corn tortillas but leave out the baking powder and you don't fry the tortillas you cook them on a hot skillet)  Some folks may add a pinch of salt to their masa, I never have as the little old Mexican lady who taught me how to make corn tortillas said it makes the dough dry and crack or something..hard to say for sure what she said as at the time I spoke very limited Spanish! 

                              I mix well the masa with my hands until it's a firm but moist consistency.

Then I roll them into balls.

                                            I place a ball between the two plastic circles

                                            I use the cooking pot to flatten the dough evenly.

  I roll the dough out a with the rolling pin, a little thicker than for a tortilla. (If too thin the dough will rip when fried and all the cheese will leak out - which is a sad thing)

Time to add the fillings!

While Mexico City has many different delicious  types of fillings to choose from, I usually just make mine with cheese or with mushrooms and cheese as those are the ingredients that I can find here.  I chose mushrooms and cheese this day.

I fried up the mushrooms, a mix of button and maitake mushrooms! (I let them cool off before using)

For cheese a Mexican queso Oaxaca is best  but I can't get that here so I just used a mixture of grated mystery cheese and some italian cheese blend I put together! The mystery cheese was a melty type and the italian blend gave it more flavor) After flattening the dough, I careful lifted the top plastic circle off and then I added some cheese and mushrooms. Add the ingredients in the circle of the dough, not too close to the edges as your are going to fold it over, don't over fill it either.

 Next, take the bottom plastic and fold it over bringing the edges of the dough together.

                                                                            like this

                                                        gently press the edges together

 Pull the plastic back and placing a finger under the bottom of the plastic, push the dough up to crease the dough closed and seal it well resulting in this nice empanada looking quezadilla.

           Gently remove the quezadilla by placing it in one had and carefully pealing the plastic off the back. Carefully place the quezadilla into hot cooking oil. Cook for a few minutes until a nice brown, flip and finish cooking. I place the cooked quezadillas on the metal rack you can see in the picture for a couple of minutes to drain off any excess oil.

                                                      Voila! Cut the quezadilla open.

                                                                   
                                                                Yummy melty goodness!
                                       
 Add shredded cabbage,(yes cabbage not lettuce, it holds up beautifully and tastes great!)crema mexicana if you can find it or sour cream. Here in Japan we have been using plain yogurt and it is good! Top it off with some salsa (and now you can add salt too if you like..I always do!)

                                                               Yummy Goodness!!!  Enjoy!!!