Beef Gorditas

This week's Project Pastry Queen assignment, Beef Gorditas, was chosen by Amanda of Fake Ginger. When I first saw the recipe, I automatically thought of the Taco Bell gordita, which is basically a taco constructed with a flatbread rather than a tortilla. Apparently, that gordita strays far from the original Mexican and PPQ version - a corn cake made with masa harina and stuffed with cheese, meat or other fillings.



I have been looking for an opportunity to play with masa and make my own tortillas. I found fresh masa dough at the nearby Mexican market, saving me the extra trouble of making the dough from scratch. The dough is flattened out, pan-fried and then deep-fried. It should puff up nicely in the hot oil. Mine puffed in the oil but deflated once cooled. It was too flat and crispy to stuff with the filling like a pita bread - I opted to slice it through and serve it like a sandwich.



All in all, a yummy recipe. The dough crisped up nicely and went well with the seasoned beef. It was quite fragile though so after awhile, we resorted to eating it with a fork like a taco salad. Ray liked it and declared it Mexican restaurant-worthy, which is saying alot considering he loves Mexican food. Another Pastry Queen winner!

For the full recipe, head over to Fake Ginger!