Unsure of what to cook for this week’s issue, I thought of my favorites foods I eat when I’m home. It didn’t take long to find a common thread in my favorite foods. Back home, quite a few of the things I eat are accompanied by an assortment of lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado, sour cream and cheese. The arrangement of the accompanying condiments depends on the actual dish, however, more often than not the condiments are placed on top.
Tostadas, sopes, quesadillas de masa, gorditas and enchiladas all have an assortment of the condiments mentioned above that bring out the flavor of the dish. The other common thread behind all of these dishes, besides the condiments, is that they’re all fried. Having already made enchiladas before, and running short on time, I went with what I thought would be the next easiest thing to make: flautas.
Flautas, otherwise known as rolled tacos, require little effort but are full of flavor. The balance of the crunch the flautas have with the freshness of the condiments on top and the taste of the meat is really striking.
I went to the local grocery store with a dear friend of mine, and we collected what we needed. We got some tortillas, lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream and cheese. For the meat, we waddled over to the precooked chicken section and picked a lucky guy to come home with us. Short on time, using a chicken that was already cooked was the easiest and most time-effective thing to do. Otherwise, you can cook a chicken yourself or use shredded beef.
The process of buying tortillas was rather difficult. The quality of tortillas here is low because they are packaged and sent to the grocery store. Throughout LA, and back home in San Diego, local grocery stores in predominantly Hispanic communities have their own machines which are used to make their own tortillas. Due to their freshness, and how they are made, these tortillas have a better taste, are stronger and have more use.
I remember going shopping for tortillas with my mother when we still lived in Mexico. There, the tortilla is a very important staple because of its relatively low cost and its nutritious value. Because of this, what are referred to as tortillerias, are very prominent throughout communities. These are composed of large elaborate machines that make tortillas in large quantities.
I explicitly remember how warm and loud the tortilleria we would visit on our way home from school was. The machines were in desperate need of some WD-40 and a fan would have not killed anyone. At the same I also remember the scent these places would exude — a wonderful scent of corn that was heightened by the warmth of the small shop.
When my dear friend and I got back to my apartment, we got to work. While she chopped up some lettuce, tomato and avocado, I started working on the flautas.
Flautas require a few simple steps. First you need to have the meat that you’re going to put inside ready. In this case, we used a chicken that was already cooked. The only thing I had to do was shred the chicken. Once I thought I had shredded enough, I started warming up some tortillas. If the tortillas are not warmed up, they are going to break and crumble when you try to wrap them. The tortillas don’t have to be completely warmed up, just warm enough so that they don’t break.
Once the tortilla is a bit warm, you put chicken or meat in the tortilla. I recommend not over stuffing it, since that would make the next few steps a bit harder. The shredded chicken needs to be placed down the middle of the tortilla in as straight of a line as possible. Next, you roll the tortilla so it looks like a burrito with an open end on both sides. To make it hold together you need to strategically run a toothpick through the tortilla that will hold it together.
Once I had as many flautas as I needed, the frying process began. For this part, I used quite a bit of cooking oil. Once the oil was warm I began to gently place the flautas in the pan. You’ll be sure that the oil is warm enough if it makes a sizzling sound as soon as the tortilla touches the oil. I let the flautas sit there for a few minutes, then I flipped them. They need to be in the oil until they turn a golden color. Once I removed them from the pan, I placed them on a plate that was covered by a towel napkin. This extracts the excess oil the flauta might be carrying saving you from a heart attack.
Once all the flautas were out we waited for them to cool a bit before putting on the condiments. The best way to layer the condiments is to start with the lettuce. The lettuce acts as a good base that can somewhat hold the rest of the condiments in place. If preferred, all the condiments can just be served on the side.
