tostada

Tostada is the same thing as a taco except it is flat instead of bent and it can carry more content, or not.  Tostada means toast, so unlike tacos they cannot be soft, otherwise they would not be toast, now would  they? That is my opinion, and I am stick'n with it. 

The tortillas are prepared from masa harina, one of my favorite things because it is so easy and fun, then fried. I think most people deep fry their corn tortillas directly from the press, but once I did that and they dissolved in the oil, so now I pan-fry them briefly first. They tend to puff. What happens is a tough exterior quickly forms on both sides so when the interior heats immediately following that toughening of the outer shell, the hot air has nowhere to go so the whole dad-gum tortilla expands like a balloon. That is an undesirable state for a fried tortilla intended to carry content. Therefore the fried tortillas are docked to allow air to escape. That turned out to be insufficient so the tortillas were properly slit, basically connecting the holes made by the docking fork. That worked very nicely in keeping the tortillas flat while they crisped in the shallow oil. 

The tostada tortilla is spread with refritos, except these refritios are not gen-you-wine refritos because they are not refried. They are hacked refritos, one of my favorite food hacks. Dried beans are ground to a powder in a coffee mill and then cooked as polenta in broth along with LARD because I am pretending to be authentic and I am not afraid of lard, along with my favorite especias mexicanas and diced onion. 

The meat is the pork chile (or chili if you prefer) prepared earlier

A plate was prepared of diced white onion, queso blanco mexicano, diced tomato, shredded lettuce. 

One cup of masa harina into an oversized bowl. One cup of HOT but not boiling water at the ready, mindful all of the water most likely will not be used. Pour. Mix. Mix. Mixey-mix. Mix. Mix. Pour. Mix. Mix. Mixey-mix. Mix. Mix. Pour. Pour. Mix. Mix. Mixey-mix. Mix. Mix. Pour. Squish. Squish Squishy.Squish. Squish. Squish. Pour.Squish. Squish Squishy.Squish. Squish. Squish. Done. 

So there you have the corn tortilla tostadas. It is entirely possible to skip all this nonsense and just buy yourself a bag of corn tortillas like a normal person, but where's the fun in that? Huh? Where? Plus you end up with a gigantic bag of a million corn tortillas, or possibly a small bag with a dozen, the point is, there are more tortillas than you can immediately use. And yes, they are cheap as hell so it hardly makes sense to make them unless you're a nut. 

Same thing with refritos. It can be purchased in a tin. 

ARTS !