BRIDGE OF THE CONTINENT : HOW TO COOK BALEADAS

A quick and satisfying breakfast, lunch or evening meal, baleadas are thick flour tortillas folded over a variety of fillings. The most common filling for baleadas is a simple mix of beans, cheese and the Honduran-style sour cream known asmantequilla.

More elaborate fillings include meat, eggs and avocado. Customize to your taste. For a fast snack, you can use store-bought flour tortillas. But for authentic flavor, make your own. It's easy!

4 to 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

-Flour tortillas (recipe below) -- 8

-Refried beans -- 2 cups

-Crumbled queso duro, cotija or feta cheese -- 1/2 cup

-Mexican-style sour cream (cream agria) -- 1/4 cup

METHOD

Heat an ungreased griddle, comal or skillet over medium flame. Meanwhile, heat up the refried beans in a saucepan, stirring in a little water.

Place a tortilla into the skillet and heat it on both sides to soften it up. Place the tortilla on a serving plate. Smear some refried beans on one half of the tortilla, sprinkle it with some crumbled cheese and drizzle it with a little sour cream. Fold the tortilla in half over the filling.

Repeat with the remaining tortillas and serve hot.

BALEADAS VARIATIONS

You can mix a lot of thing to baleada like meat, avocado, "chorizo", sweet pepper or chile.

-Other Baleadas Fillings: Scrambled eggs; cooked and seasoned ground beef or pork, sliced avocado, pickled jalapeños, or repollo coleslaw (see curtido recipe).

-Tortillas de Harina (Homemade flour tortillas): Flour tortillas in Honduras are a little thicker than those of their Mexican friends to the north. Making your own at home is easy, but it does take a little time. You'll fall in love with the results:

.Flour -- 2 cups

.Baking powder -- 1 teaspoon

.Salt -- pinch

.Water or milk -- 1/2 to 3/4 cup

.Butter, lard or oil -- 3 tablespoons

Mix together the flour baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in 1/2 cup of the water or milk to form a dough. Work in the butter, lard or oil until smooth. Add more liquid or flour as needed to form a smooth dough that isn't too sticky.

Remove the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth. Cover with a clean dish towel and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Heat an ungreased comal, griddle or skillet over medium flame. Cut the dough into 8 equal portions and roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball out into roughly an 8-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick.

Place a dough round onto the hot comal and cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until the tortilla has browned spots and is lightly puffed. Set aside and repeat with the remaining dough rounds.

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