Baleadas

Made baleadas for lunch to represent Honduras in our World Cup cooking challenge. This dish was right up our alley – the tortillas were soft and fluffy, and delicious filled with refried beans, cheese, slices of avocado and topped with chismol – a fresh vegetable salsa. I followed the flour tortilla recipe on the This is Honduras website, but just made my usual refried beans.

Baleadas
(serves 4)

• 8 fresh flour tortillas (recipe below)
  (or 4 store bought — the ones I made came out much smaller than I expected)
• refried beans
• 1 avocado, sliced
• grated cheese
• chismol

1. Spread half a tortilla with a couple of tablespoons of refried beans.
2. Top the beans with slices of avocado, some grated cheese, and a dollop of chismol.
3. Fold in half, fill the remaining tortillas the same way, and serve.

Flour tortillas
(makes 8)

• 2 cups white flour
• 1 1/2 Tb baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g butter, softened
• 1 egg, beaten
• about 2 Tb water

1. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Stir in the butter (I worked it in with my fingers), then add the egg.
3. Stir until it comes together in a bowl, adding about 2 Tb water, or whatever is necessary.
4. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then divide into eight pieces.
5. Roll each piece of dough into a little ball, cover them with a tea towel, and leave for half an hour.
6. Roll each ball out until it’s about 4mm thick (or flatten in a tortilla press).
7. Heat a cast iron fry pan over high heat, and dry fry the tortillas, a couple of minutes a side, until browned and cooked through.
8. Wrap the tortillas in a dish towel to keep them warm until you’re ready to use them.

Family score: 8.6 out of 10

Tags: Central American food, refried beans, tortillas, vegetarian