Homemade Flour Tortillas & Chorizo Sausage Meat

It is just natural that in the summer time to want tacos, fajitas, enchiladas… The last time I made my own tortillas they had shortening in them. I found a tortilla recipe here that used vegetable oil which I was thrilled about.

I was also a little naughty and made my very own chorizo sausage meat which I never thought to make before! Reg hates pork but my curiosity got the best of me when I saw the recipe in The $5 Takeout Cookbook. I am so glad I did!

HOMEMADE FOUR TORTILLAS 

Sift together 2 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Pour in 1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

Mix to combine and then add 1/2 cup of warm water, working it into the dough until a sticky ball forms. As usual, I had to add extra water to make this happen.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

I divided the dough into 8 balls but these proved to be slightly too big for my new tortilla press.

I sandwiched the balls of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and then pressed down.

They got beautifully thin. So much easier than rolling them out!

In a hot pan I cooked them on either size for at least 20 seconds. Yes, I had varying sizes because the dough was too big but I didn’t want the remnants to go in the compost.

What I wasn’t expecting was the dough to swell so much!

These ended up being more like pitas than fajitas! Now it was super hot in my kitchen, perhaps that got the baking powder working ahead of time. Next time I will definitely use less and maybe not let the dough sit as long in my steaming hot kitchen. Delicious though! I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons. 

Who knew that you could take a pound of ground pork, add some spices to it and it would come out tasting heavenly… but it does!

Here is the recipe as it is in the cookbook: to the pork add 1/2 tbsp paprika, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/8 tsp ground coriander seeds, 1/3 cup vinegar, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp cayenne pepper. Mix until well blended.

The recipe did not say what kind of vinegar to use so I added red wine vinegar, hoping for the best. I had never done that to meat before! Add vinegar??? I could not bring myself to add a whole tablespoon of cayenne pepper but I did add just under 1 tsp of cayenne which was very brave of me. I am a wuss when it comes to heat!

You are supposed to form them into patties but I wanted a ground beef replacement. I can not tell you how many cooking shows they bring out raw chorizo sausage meat for a recipe and I have no hope of finding it at my grocery store. The idea of making it myself was so liberating!

It did not get all bright red like it does in the stores but I could have just added more paprika. I was worried about fat content so I placed the meat on a plate with paper towels and took a bite.

YOWZA!!! Wow!!! So much flavour. OMG, so close to being over seasoned though so I would back off on the salt next time but the vinegar added so much tang and the spices just popped. I was in love!

I made these giant soft tacos with both the tortillas and the chorizo covered in mushrooms, caramelized onions, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese… Absolutely delicious, I was blown away.

You know I am not a big eater of pork products but will make the exception now and then for this recipe. I froze some of the meat and sadly it was not as strong and powerful as it was right out of the pan so if you make this, eat it up right away if you want the full impact of all those flavours.

I give this recipe five out of five wooden spoons.

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