Tostadas

A tortilla held flat in deep fat until it is rigid all the way through, then used as a plate.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name, chicken, lard.

Ingredients

the tostadas

• 8 corn tortillas, as on their own page
• oil, for frying, about 3 cm depth
• fine salt

on top

• 300 g refried beans, as on their own page
• 300 g chicken, poached and shredded
• shredded lettuce
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 150 g crumbly white cheese
• soured cream, to drizzle
• salsa, as on its own page

Method

1. IT IS HELD FLAT IN THE FAT UNTIL IT IS RIGID ALL THE WAY THROUGH, which is about a minute and is twice as long as feels necessary. A tortilla dropped into hot oil curls immediately, and a curled tostada will not hold a topping. A spatula or a pair of tongs pressed on the middle keeps it flat for the first fifteen seconds, after which it has set and stays flat on its own. Then it needs the rest of the minute: taken out while any flex remains, it goes soft again as it cools and sags under the beans. The test is that it SNAPS rather than bends.
2. THIS IS THE LONGEST FRY OF THE THREE FRIED TORTILLAS HERE, and the length is the only real difference. A tortilla chip comes out in twenty seconds because it was dried overnight first. A totopo is baked twice over an hour. A tostada starts fresh and full of water and the whole minute is spent driving that water out under heat.
3. IT IS A PLATE AND IT IS LOADED IN LAYERS FROM STIFF TO WET. Beans first, spread right to the edge: they are the mortar and they stop everything above sliding off. Then meat, then salad, then the wet things -- cream and salsa -- last and in the middle, where they have furthest to travel before they reach the rim.
4. IT IS TOPPED AT THE TABLE AND EATEN IN THE HAND. The countdown starts at the beans: the moisture works down into the fried tortilla and within ten minutes it has gone from snapping to bending. Shells fried an hour ahead and kept in a tin are fine; shells topped an hour ahead are not.
5. THEY ARE SALTED STRAIGHT OUT OF THE OIL. Salt sticks to a hot oily surface and to nothing else, and the beans on top are the only other seasoning the thing gets.
6. The oil heated to 3 cm in a deep pan over a medium-high heat, until a corner of tortilla bubbles hard.
7. One tortilla slid in and HELD FLAT with a spatula or tongs for the first 15 SECONDS, until it has set and stopped trying to curl.
8. Fried a further 45 SECONDS, turned once, until stiff, dry and pale gold.
9. Lifted out, drained on paper and SALTED at once.
10. TESTED when cool enough to handle: it must SNAP cleanly. Any bend at all means it needed longer.
11. The rest fried the same way and kept in a tin until wanted. They keep 3 days.
12. The refried beans warmed and spread right to the EDGE of each shell, 5 mm deep.
13. The shredded chicken laid on, then lettuce, tomato, avocado and cheese.
14. The cream and salsa spooned into the MIDDLE only, at the table.
15. Eaten in the hand at once, over a plate.

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