Apparently the world does not want me to buy tortillas. They are right up there with toilet paper, macaroni, any kind of soup, and eggs. Just forget it. It is the year 2020 and they no longer exist.
Which, WHATEVER. I have many strong feelings about the people who are hoarding food and none of them are nice so I'll just stop talking and post how I cope with tortillas no longer existing.
I MAKE THEM MYSELF. So there. They're better homemade anyway.
They're stupid easy to make and I only don't because life is chaos. Which, it's still chaos, but it's chaos at home. I guess I have time to throw together a few things.
Especially when they turn out perfectly.
Flour Tortillas
(recipe shamelessly stolen from Mindy)
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1.5-2 cups of milk
Throw the flour, butter, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and squish and toss and mix it with your hands, being careful to not grope the butter too much because it needs to stay cold. If you grope it, it might melt. No melty butter, please!
Once the flour mixture looks like cornmeal, hollow out a space in the middle of your bowl of flour and pour in 1.5 cups of milk. Squish it with your hands until it turns into a nice dough that sticks to itself, but not to your hands. If it seems too dry, add more milk. If it seems too moist, add more flour. Follow your gut. Your gut is smart.
Divide the large dough ball into 24 small dough balls. Allow the dough to rest for about ten minutes and then roll out each tortilla. The tortillas should be about 8" across and about 1/16" thick. The thinner you can get them, the better.
Heat a large skillet (or griddle if you're fancy like Mindy). You aren't putting any oil or anything in the pan, so to test to see if it's hot enough, splash a few drops of water into the pan. If it sizzles, you're good to go.
Place your first rolled out tortilla into the skillet. Allow it to cook for about one minute. Flip it and cook it on the other side for about 30 seconds. The tortillas should look like this:
Perfection, no?
What's that? They aren't perfectly round? ... And? Personally I like them better when they aren't perfect. "Perfect" doesn't give you happy accidents like this one.
I always manage to make at least one heart-shaped fajita. It is meant to be.
Which brings me to the stuff that goes inside the fajita. I hesitate to call this a recipe because it's really whatever I have on hand, but I do have a preference. I personally hate when I order fajitas at a restaurant and they are nothing but onions and peppers. At home, I make sure there is way more to them. My favorite ingredient list:
Veggie Fajitas
1 package extra firm tofu (cubed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cilantro, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 carrot, thinly sliced
Juice from one lime
1 red pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped spinach (I used frozen this time, but use fresh when I have it)
1/3 cup corn (again with the frozen this time, but canned or fresh would work)
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Like I said, this isn't so much a recipe as it is a list of things that get thrown into a large skillet together and cooked over medium heat until they are however soft you want them. The only real trick is knowing what order to work in. Start with whatever will take the longest to cook and work your way towards the quicker cooking stuff.
Which is to say, start with the protein. You might want chicken or beef or whatever, but we like tofu. Go ahead, mock us. We can handle it. (If you do use dead animal for your protein, drain off the fat before you start adding vegetables. Us tofu people don't have any fat to drain, so we have to add the olive oil with the tofu to prevent sticking.) Throw the cilantro in with your protein.
Next up, the carrots. I don't like mine crunchy when I'm eating fajitas, so they need a while to cook. The carrots get joined by the garlic after a minute or two.
After that I add the red pepper. Then I squeeze the lime juice in before adding the onion, zucchini, spinach, and corn.
I can't really tell you how long it will take for your vegetables to be perfect. That depends on your definition of "perfect" and your stove. For me it takes about 20 minutes from the time I throw the tofu in the skillet until I turn off the heat.
Once the vegetables are done, you stuff some in a flour tortilla and top with shredded cheese and sour cream.
