Native American Recipes: How to Make Crispy Corn Tortillas Native American Style

There must be a million corn tortilla recipes on the internet alone, but I like to add a little history along with these native american recipes since they are a bit special to me. For instance, if you look at history of corn, you see something really special. Corn itself is kind of an enigma. It can not be reproduced by itself but needs help from an outside source, wild or from man. And I thought the corn that was found stored in a cave in New Mexico back In 1948 completely facinating. The corn actually dated back at least 4000 years! So it seems a total miracle that Native Americans were able to plant, reproduce and even hybridize corn thousands of years ago.

We better get back to crispy tortillas. Corn tortillas are round flat unleavened pieces of bread made from a special corn flour called masa harina. They are quickly mixed by hand, kneaded, flattened, then fried on a hot griddle till the outsides are crispy and the insides moist and chewy. This tortilla recipe is one of my ultimate favorites.

Corn Tortillas Native American Style:

What you Will Need:

• 2 Cups Masa Harina (corn Flour you can find in grocery store baking section)
• 2 tsps salt
• 2 tsps shortening
• 1 1/4 cups boiling water

Combine corn flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Melt shortening in the boiling water and stir into the dry mixture. Now you simply knead ithe mixture nto a dough ball and pinch off inch size pieces, flatten and roll out till paper thin. Place on hot griddle and fry 30 seconds per side, till puffs appear. Spread with butter and serve piping hot.