Fun With Grains

At our September 25 meeting, we "Cheap Chicks" had fun learning how easy and inexpensive it could be to make dinner from scratch. As we arrived, we found Vickie had set up a table full of books about cooking with grains that we could peruse while waiting for everyone else to get there (and while the beans were cooking).

Next we moved to the kitchen where Jan taught us how to make whole wheat tortillas. (See recipe below.) Roll a fist-sized ball of dough out paper thin (it will puff up). Cook on a hot griddle until you see your tortilla bubbling up, then flip it over and cook the other side about the same amount of time. Everyone had a chance to make her own. While we were playing in the dough, Jan told us she uses flour ground from soft wheat for anything made with baking powder, like cakes and cookies and tortillas, and flour from hard wheat for anything made with yeast, like bread.

Once we had a stack of tortillas, we needed something to wrap them around. Vickie had pinto beans cooking on the stove, and demonstrated how to turn them into refried beans. While the beans cooked, she had added salt, pepper, and onion. She explained that it is an old wive's tale that adding salt will make the beans hard. It's tomatoes that do that. That's why when you cook chili, you add the tomatoes last. She dumped the cooked beans into a strainer to get the liquid out, then whirled them in a blender for the smooth consistency of refried beans.

To top our tortillas and beans, Jennifer had brought homemade yogurt with most of the liquid drained off. (Recipe will be posted soon.) It's a good substitute for sour cream. Unfortunately, Jennifer had a little crisis to deal with (three or four of them) and had to leave before we sat down to eat, but her yogurt was a hit. (Next time we meet, we promise to have someone over the age of 6 running the nursery.) Vickie also brought chives fresh from her garden as a garnish.

Glenda brought delicious buckwheat rolls and buckwheat-apple muffins for everyone to try. She didn't want the temptation of all that bread at home and begged us to take all the leftovers home, which we were very happy to do.

Jan brought plum butter, apricot butter, apricot cream, and grape conserve to try on our extra tortillas. The fruit butters she makes by slow cooking fruit purees. A conserve is a fruit butter with nuts in it. A fruit cream is something Jan discovered when she experimented with the pulp left over from juicing grapes. She ran the pulp through a juicer (the kind you juice vegetables with) and the result was the consistency of cool whip and tasted like "ambrosia."

Jan also brought kefir for us to try. Kefir is made with grain and milk and is sort of reminiscent of yogurt drinks.

By the time we had finished our dinner, we were all stuffed! As we discovered, whole grains are very filling. We all have plenty of new things to experiment with until our next meeting, which will be a FIELD TRIP TO A BREAD BAKERY!


Basic Wheat Tortillas or Sopapillas
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. baking powder
2-3 Tbsp. oil
about 3/4 c. water

Combine dry ingredients. Add oil and water and knead briefly into a soft ball. Break into individual balls. Roll out on flour until thin. Fry on DRY skillet 10-15 seconds on each side. Remove and brush with butter cube.

For sopapillas fry in 1-1/2" of hot oil.


Basic Corn Tortillas
2 c. masa harina mix
1 c. + 2 Tbsp. water

Combine ingredients and mix until it forms a ball. If necessary add 1-2 tsp. of water. Break into 14-16 balls and cover so they don't dry out. Shape each ball between plastic to form 6" circle. Peel off bags carefully. Fry on very hot DRY skillet 30 seconds. Turn and cook 1 min. Turn and cook 15-30 seconds. Once cooked the tortillas should be soft and pliable.


Anything But Wheat Flour Tortillas
2/3 c. water
1/2 c. garbanzo flour*
1/4 tsp. salt

Coat hot pan with 1 tsp. oil. Add batter all at once and cover. Cook 2 min. Dribble rest of oil on tortilla and spread it. Cook 5 min. When it looks dry on edges, flip. Lower heat and cook 5 min. uncovered. If you want them crispy, cook 5 min. more flipping every minute or so.
*or use one of the following:
1/2 c. oat flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 c. amaranth flour - use medium heat
1/3 c. brown rice flour