Recipe: Africa Burritos

In another attempt to add to my culinary range of skills, I recently made burritos- another homemade favorite, using a lot of the foods and ingredients that are readily available here in Tanzania.  There are a few components to the recipe, but I thought I would share how I was able to bring a little Mexican into my regular African diet.

The basic components for the dish (as I made it) are:

Rice

Beans

Cheese (from supermarket)

Tortillas

Guacamole

The two components that require some prep work are the Tortillas and Guacamole.  The recipes are as follows (again these are adapted from recipes found in the Peace Corps Guinea Cookbook):

Tortillas:

2 cups of Flour

¼ cup of Oil

1 tsp. of Salt

2/3 cup Hot Water

1) Blend flour and salt with a fork until the mixture resembles fine meal or sand.  Stir together hot water and salt to dissolve the salt.

2) Stir together the hot water and the flour and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth.

3) Divide the dough into 10 equal balls (more or less depending on the desired size) and let stand covered for at least 30 minutes.

4) Heat a frying pan over moderately high heat until it is hot.

5) On a lightly floured board roll the balls into flat rounds.

6) Cook the tortilla on the pan for about 2-3 minutes, turning it once.  The tortilla is ready once it is puffy and golden brown on each side.

Guacamole:

2 ripe avocadoes

1 tsp oil

2 tsp lemon juice

Minced parsley (to taste)

Paprika (to taste)

Salt and Pepper (to taste)

1 chopped onion

2 chopped (small) tomatoes

1 chopped (small) green bell pepper

1) Cut and peel the avocadoes and mash together in a bowl.

2) Add the chopped vegetables and lemon juice and oil.

3) Add the spices to taste until the mixture is as desired.

Now to make the burritos, just cook up some rice and beans and add whatever other ingredients you desire or can find (vegetables, cheese, etc).  Top all the ingredients onto the tortillas; add the guacamole and you can enjoy a simple and delicious Mexican meal all the way in Africa!