Sunday, May 3, 2009

Dumbo in the Kitchen - #7: Tortilla Roll

I wish I could have tortilla (tor-TEE-ya; why? Ask the Spaniards/Mexicans, don't ask me) more often.

I mean, if I have rice with side dishes, my rice (carbohydrate) to vegetables to meat ratio would be roughly 7:2:1. But if I have tortilla (prepared as shown below), my carb to vege to meat ratio would be a much healthier 1:2:1.

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You can prepare the minced meat in any flavor you like. What I did was somewhat tomato-ish with soy sauce flavor, I think. Yeah, I cook all my so-called Western dishes with soy sauce. Very typical Chinese cook. Can't live without his soy sauce. But to my defense, the soy sauce I use is very delicious (everyone who has tasted it agreed): it is added with red dates, so there's this additional layer of aroma and sweetness to it that I find hard to describe.

And don't forget to prepare lots of vegetables (whatever vegetables that you would normally put in your salad). I used lettuce, carrots and tomatoes.


Lay those veges thickly onto the tortilla...


Then a layer of minced meat (cooked, of course)...


Then my favorite herb: coriander (cilantro). I used to hate this herb (and along with it, celery, parsley, and the likes) when I was younger. But now, I love it like crazy (I believe God has changed my taste bud so I eat more of these herbs that are helpful in lowering blood pressure; in my line of work, that is a boon indeed).


My tortilla roll turned out to be too "fat" to be rolled up "spring-roll" style. And I did not have any toothpick to hold its shape, so I tore a strip of aluminum foil and tied it up like a ribbon. That's a bit of MacGyverism in the kitchen for you. :-)


Pop it in the oven...


My toaster oven was too small, so the tortilla roll got too close to the heater element and was a bit over-charred. But, it still tasted nice. :-)


Another wonderful bread to use for such dishes is the Lebanese bread. Nowadays, you can find tortilla in most hypermarkets, but not many hypermarkets sell Lebanese bread.