Roasted Tomatillo & Lime Salsa

5 years ago, we started growing tomatillos as I could not find them anywhere in Australia, other than a few tinned ones through a Mexican food importer. I could however, find the seeds. Loving Mexican food I really wanted to try this fruit that pops up so much in recipes from the US. Now, I can find jars of tomatillo salsa in the supermarket but once it was not so easy! They are a very pretty plant and I love watching the "lanterns" grow and in the autumn, finding the skeletonized husks - they're just so delicate and lovely.

That first year I coddled and coaxed and crooned to my tomatillo seeds, begging them to sprout and then grow into strong seedlings for me (Ok, so maybe I didn't croon to them but let's just imagine for a moment that I did). Liking a warm climate like tomatoes which are notoriously late to ripen in our mountains, I didn't hold out a lot of hope, but I perservered. They were covered and kept warm, and dutifully planted out after the last frost, and covered at night - all of those things a desperate gardener will do for a prized plant. Four out of the twelve plants survived and fruited, and although I liked them, I just thought they would be too laborious for the following year. They didn't like our cooler summers, and it seemed a lot of effort.

The following year, much to my surprise, volunteer seedlings popped up mid spring, and flourished. So much so that every year since the plants have been stronger and fruited earlier, acclimatising themselves to our alpine region and this year, completely invading the garden. Today I decided to pull them all out, the nights are getting quite cold already (that's the Blue Mountains for you, two seasons - winter, and February LOL). I ended up with a bit over 9 kilograms of them (that's about 20 pounds for those using Imperial measurements).  I picked a couple of kilos off some early plants but this is definitely a record! So roasted salsa it is! I've divided the recipe into a manageable and smaller batch for those that don't have  a ridiculous amount like me. I also omitted chilli powder this time as not everyone likes chilli as much as me.... but that's ok feel free to add siracha when you serve!

Ingredients

2 kg tomatillos

2 large onions

3 cloves garlic

1 lime

1 tsp ground cumin

pinch of salt

1 bunch coriander leaves (cilantro)

Method

Dehusk and thoroughly wash the tomatillos

Quarter onions, peel and halve garlic cloves, and cut and quarter the lime

In a baking dish, put in the tomatillos, onions, garlic, and lime, and roast on 180C n a preheated oven until tomatillos collapse.

Allow to cool and then pulse onion,garlic, and the flesh of the lime in a food processor.

Add tomatillos and pulse a couple of times to chop, not puree.

either in a slow cooker or a saucepan, put in the tomatillo mixture and add cumin, salt, and coriander leaves. 

Simmer until reduced and thick and chunky (I used my enormous slow cooker and left in on low overnight with the lid slightly askew for the vapour to get out).

Serve with your favourite chilli or use as a dip with corn chips, or slather on some hot warm soft tacos. 

Vegan MoFo: Home Made Soft Taco Shells

We love Mexican food in our house - how could you not being a veg head? All those wholesome bean varieties, salsas, salads, fresh vegies and punchy flavours! Being in Australia, Mexican foods are pretty limited in the way of ingredients apart from Old El Paso sort of kits. But I have found a couple of good Mexican ingredient importers online based in Sydney, so I've been able to order a few things to try. We also ventured a couple of years ago into growing our own tomatillos, as I found some organic seed, and it's not something you can buy at the markets (not that I've ever seen). I was so impressed with them as the following Spring there was a bunch of volunteer plants, so I don't think I'll ever be without them! 

A request for some upcoming catering possibly involves a taco bar. The tortillas in the shop are always a bit too thin, a bit too big, and tend to tear easily. They also taste a little funny, probably from those little sachets they put in to stop them drying out and such. I want a robust taco that can stand up to some fillings! I had a look at some soft taco shell recipes, but couldn't really find anything that wasn't a basic corn tortilla or didn't involve eggs. Strange...maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, or maybe I'm too picky? What the hey, I'll just make up my own and hope for the best!

I made a yeast mixture with some warm water, salt, and sunflower oil. When it went all bubbly I added a half half mixture of bakers flour and masa, and worked it a bit, adjusting until I got the right feel in the dough. Don't ask me for measurements, this is a work in progress! I let the dough sit covered for a couple of hours, and then rolled out balls of dough into about 6 inch rounds, a good size to fit snug in the hand, dusting with masa and piling them up. I even got to use my vintage Indian rolling pin (so I bought it for Indian roti making, but don't judge ok?)

And this is what I ended up with! I fried them off in my wok (the heat distribution always works really well when I make Indian breads this way). The texture reminded me a bit of naan bread, but the taste of corn was definitely prominent. They were soft, a little flaky inside, and much thicker than regular tortillas.  All in all, I was pretty happy with the first try, they didn't break when we folded them over some char grilled corn salsa, beans, and guacamole. When I've perfected it I might post a recipe...

UPDATE
Finally I've got a moment to update this with an actual recipe! Makes approx 15 taco size tortillas.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups bakers flour
1 cup masa
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon sunflower oil (not essential, but easier to work the dough)
approx 1 3/4 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

Method
In a bowl put water, yeast, sugar, salt, and oil. Allow to bubble and add flour and masa. Add a little more water if needed. Like any baking, temperature of the day, moisture in the air, and in the flour itself all takes part, so add enough water so that you have a soft and slightly sticky dough.

Take golf ball size pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Squish down between your palms and either roll out with a rolling pin or if you have one, put between two pieces of greaseproof paper into a tortilla press...OR you can use the bottom of a heavy saucepan or frying pan and push down. they should be fairly thin, remember they will puff up!

Lightly oil a heavy based frying pan, wok, or even a BBQ hotplate. Cook until toasty one side, most of them puff up when you are ready to flip. Cook off the other side for about a minute. Put them aside and keep warm in a teatowel.

Vegan MoFo: Tamales and Blue Corn Chips

I completely forgot to post these when I made them. How I forgot, I really don't know, because I was super excited when the package from Monteray Mexican Foods in Sydney arrived at what seemed like the speed of light - full of ingredients for me to make tamales and corn chips from scratch. Now, for those in the US it must seem I'm making quite a fuss over something that is quite ordinary, but for an Aussie, tamales are not very common. In fact, I suspect there would be quite a few of us who have no idea what a tamale tastes like, much as there are many Americans that have no idea about the delights of vegemite on toast. But anyway, I'm rambling. I made my tamales with a bean, tomato, and spinach filling, and I wrapped them in corn husks and steamed them away in my rice cooker. They worked out perfectly! And they were a hit. I had mine with Sheese spicy cream cheese, jalapenos, and vegan sour cream. They kind of reminded me of a Mexican flavoured steamed bun. And I had a go at making blue corn chips, which I pretty much, ahem, devoured alone. I'm not going to post the recipes right now, perhaps at a later date when I've done a tweak here and a tweak there, but I think I'll be ordering some more stuff soon. And I can't wait until my home grown tomatillos are ready for picking, because I have a hunch they will be quite spectacular with these!