Salbutes

A masa disc dropped into deep fat so it puffs, then left soft and never crisp, piled with turkey and pickled onion.

Turkey. Not vegetarian — contains turkey.

Ingredients

the salbutes

• 400 g masa, as on its own page
• ½ teaspoon salt
• oil, for deep frying

on top

• 400 g turkey thigh, poached and shredded
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• juice of 3 limes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• shredded lettuce
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 habanero, sliced very thin

Method

1. IT PUFFS IN THE FAT AND IS LEFT SOFT, NEVER CRISP. The disc goes into hot oil and within about twenty seconds it balloons; it is turned once, given a few seconds more, and lifted out while it is still bendy. Thirty seconds is enough and a minute is too much. Left in until it colours and hardens it becomes a tostada -- perfectly nice and a different thing -- and the toppings will slide off a rigid disc instead of settling into a soft one.
2. THE PUFF NEEDS A THIN DISC AND HOT OIL. Three millimetres, and oil hot enough that the masa starts bubbling immediately. Thicker, or in cooler oil, and it soaks fat and sits flat instead of inflating.
3. THE ONION IS PICKLED AT LEAST AN HOUR AHEAD, in nothing but lime juice and salt. It goes from raw and harsh to pink, slack and sharp, and the sharpness is what cuts the fried masa and the fatty turkey. Added raw at the last minute it is just hot onion.
4. THE TURKEY IS POACHED AND SHREDDED AND NOT ROASTED. Shredded poached thigh stays moist and goes on in soft loose strands that sit on the salbut; roast meat is firmer and drier and has to be cut, and cutting on a soft disc tears it.
5. THEY ARE FRIED IN ONES AND TWOS AND TOPPED AT ONCE. A salbut starts deflating as soon as it leaves the oil and is softest and best in the first minute. Fried in a batch and held, they go heavy and oily.
6. The red onion covered with the lime juice and 1 teaspoon salt and left to stand AT LEAST 1 HOUR, turning once or twice. It will go pink and slack.
7. The turkey thigh poached in salted water 45 minutes until tender, cooled a little and pulled into strands.
8. The masa kneaded with the salt and divided into 12 balls.
9. Each pressed between plastic to a thin disc about 10 cm across and 3 mm thick.
10. Oil heated in a deep pan to about 4 cm, over a medium-high heat, until a scrap of masa bubbles at once.
11. One disc slid in. It should PUFF within 20 SECONDS. Turned once and given 10 seconds more.
12. Lifted out while STILL SOFT AND BENDY -- about 30 seconds in all -- and drained briefly on paper.
13. Topped straight away: lettuce, turkey, tomato, avocado, a heap of the pickled onion and its juice, and a few slivers of habanero.
14. Eaten in the hand immediately, while the disc is still soft. The next two fried while these are eaten.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes