Thought I had posted this, a while back, after the first time I had made them completely from scratch, but I couldn't find it. Then I realised that I had waited to get more information about the tortilla part of it but had never found anything satisfactory. Thus, I have rewritten that part a bit.
Baleadas are flour tortillas folded in half after having been spread with refried red beans and sprinkled with grated queso duro. They taste much better when the tortillas are made to order, instead of precooked or store-bought tortillas. In their most basic form, baleadas are VERY inexpensive, but other fillings may be added (with an increase in cost, of course), such as scrambled eggs, which are an especially common filling when having baleadas for breakfast. Other typical fillings are listed later. Note that the proportions of the ingredients (especially for the tortillas) can vary, quite a bit, from one cook to another. In fact, some people use milk, instead of water, to make the tortillas more tender, and some even add some an egg and a small amount of sugar. Adjust anything to make the tortilla dough easier to handle for your own brand of flour, humidity conditions, etc.
Baleadas
Ingredients for the Flour Tortillas:
Baleadas are flour tortillas folded in half after having been spread with refried red beans and sprinkled with grated queso duro. They taste much better when the tortillas are made to order, instead of precooked or store-bought tortillas. In their most basic form, baleadas are VERY inexpensive, but other fillings may be added (with an increase in cost, of course), such as scrambled eggs, which are an especially common filling when having baleadas for breakfast. Other typical fillings are listed later. Note that the proportions of the ingredients (especially for the tortillas) can vary, quite a bit, from one cook to another. In fact, some people use milk, instead of water, to make the tortillas more tender, and some even add some an egg and a small amount of sugar. Adjust anything to make the tortilla dough easier to handle for your own brand of flour, humidity conditions, etc.
Baleadas
Ingredients for the Flour Tortillas:
- 3 Cups All-purpose flour
- 2 Tsp Baking powder
- 3/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Vegetable shortening
- 1 Cup Warm water (approx.)
- Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
- Slowly add the warm water, mixing and kneading the dough, with your hands, until it no longer sticks to your hands, adding a little more flour, if necessary.
- Form into 12 balls, a little bigger than the size of golf balls, cover with a cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten each ball of dough, between two sheets of plastic, into an 8" tortilla.. With a little experience, it actually becomes easier to use your hands!
- Heat a comal (griddle) or dry frying pan to medium-high heat.
- Cook one tortilla until small bubbles form on the surface.
- Turn the tortilla over.
- Press down firmly with a wide spatula or a thickly folded, damp towel, until more bubbles form.
- Turn the tortilla over again.
- Cook tortilla until slightly golden.
- Make each tortilla immediately before adding the fillings for the baleadas, rather than making any quantity of them ahead of time.
- 1 Cup Uncooked (dry) Small red beans
- 6 Cups Water + additional for soaking
- 1 Small Red onion, chopped
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Tbsp Freshly chopped Cilantro
- 1/4 Large Green bell pepper, chopped (or 1/2 small)
- 1 Small Jalapeño pepper, chopped (or 1/2 large or to taste) (optional)
- 1 Cube Chicken bouillon
- 4 Tbsp Vegetable oil (divided)
- 1 Tsp Ground cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sort through the beans, removing any small stones or other foreign objects.
- In a large bowl or pot, cover the beans well with water and soak overnight.
- Drain the beans and place into a medium saucepan with 6 Cups of water.
- Add the onions, garlic, cilantro, green pepper and jalapeño (if using it).
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding more water if necessary (though it probably won't be).
- Add the bouillon cube.
- Cook for 30 minutes more.
- Remove the beans from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Purée the mixture in a blender.
- Heat about 1 Tbsp of the vegetable in the pan.
- Return the mixture to the pan.
- Add the cumin, salt and pepper.
- Cook, stirring constantly, for another 5 or 10 minutes, gradually adding the remaining oil.
The finished mixture will be a thick paste.
- Scrambled eggs (Probably the most common option, especially for breakfast, and my favourite.)
- Mantequilla Crema (Somewhat like sour cream. Some American stores actually sell "Honduran Cream," but the closest thing in most stores would be "Mexican Cream." If neither of those is available, add 2 Tbsp heavy cream to 1/2 Cup sour cream.)
- Sliced avocado (Especially good along with the eggs.)
- Chismol (Similar to the Mexican Pico de Gallo - see below; Hondurans pronounce it without the s; in some areas it is spelled chirmol; they are each short forms of chilmole, but should not be confused with the Mexican chilmole paste that is used as the base for mole sauces)
- Cooked sausage (Not at all like American sausage; not even like Mexican or Spanish Chorizo. – just different, and not really very good, so any attempt to substitute another sausage won't really be authentic.)
- Carnitas (Small chunks of cooked pork.)
- Sliced jalapeños
- Sliced raw onions
- Other meats (Chicken, ground beef, and even hot dogs may be added, but usually only at places such as Mega Baleada or La Super Baleada that make outrageously filled – and outrageously large – baleadas)
- Encurtido (Sliced carrots, onions, green peppers and/or jalapeños all pickled in vinegar, optionally including beets, cauliflower, and/or baby corn.)
- 2 Large onions, diced
- 3 Green peppers, diced
- 4 Ripe Roma tomatoes, diced
- Fresh lime juice
- Vinegar
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and oregano – to taste
- Mix the vegetables together in a large bowl.
- Pour fresh lime juice over mixture and mix well.
- Add a few teaspoons of vinegar to taste, and the spices.
- Place into refrigerator and marinate for at least one hour.
- Fresh Flour Tortillas made immediately before filling
- Refried Red Beans
- Grated queso duro (or queso blanco or other hard, white Mexican cheese)
- Other optional fillings
- Spread 2-3 tablespoons of refried red beans onto one half of the tortilla.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the beans.
- Add any optional fillings desired.
- Fold the tortilla flat, in half and enjoy.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?