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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Wilma's Tasty Tortilla Chips

I hate waste. Which is tough when you love food as much as I do. I couldn't resist buying real tortillas recently for the Lost finale party. By real I mean not the kind from the grocery store but the made by hand variety from the mexican grocer at Reading Terminal.

Definitely worth it for the taste alone, but when they are dirt cheap you really can't go wrong.

Until you realize that you have about 30 leftover. And you are one little person who can only eat so many tacos.

If you are anything like me you are inspired to whip up a batch of homemade tortilla chips for your next office meeting and trust that somebody will bring some sort of dip if you ask nicely. See Betty's salsa below.


Ingredients

Fresh flour or corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
Salt

A cast iron dutch oven works perfectly for frying. Luckily, I have my trusty Lodge that I pull out for just such occasions. Heat some oil over medium high heat. You don't need a ton because tortilla chips are thin.

While the oil is heating, slice your tortillas into chip size wedges and line a plate with paper towels.

Test the oil by dropping a small piece of tortilla or bread in. When it sizzles immediately it's ready, but if it browns immediately it's too hot.

Drop them in a few at a time. You don't want any overlap.

Watch carefully and flip when you see brown around the edges. When they are lightly golden brown remove with a spider or even tongs will do. Be careful not to splash yourself, but shake gently to remove as much excess oil as possible.

Place on the paper towel lined plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. I'm sure you can play around with some spices here. Cumin, chili powder and lime come to mind, but maybe some cinnamon sugar??

Store in an airtight container until ready to eat.


For such a simple food, I was surprised at how taken aback people were that I actually made them. I guess it is relatively labor intensive for something that you can buy pretty inexpensively at the store, but it will impress the next time you entertain. And you won't have to tell anyone that it cost you next to nothing.

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