More about Masa...

You might recall that I previously posted about making masa harina, and then corn torillas from scratch HERE.  That worked very well, but because I had to use the big Corona Mill, it was messy and time consuming (what isn't in a kitchen??) 

Just the other day, I took down our flour corn (pictured above) and spent some enjoyable time taking the kernels off the cobs.  My DH sometimes thinks it could be done faster, if I did it his way, but I really enjoy just sitting and rubbing the kernels off into a big bowl.  To me, it seems like bounty and makes me happy!

As I was thinking about making some more masa, I wondered if maybe I could complete the whole process right in the food processor instead of starting there and then graduating to the Corona Mill.  I have to report, it worked beautifully!

Look at the other post about how to prepare the corn with pickling lime and all of that.  I fixed 2 pounds of the kernels this time, 2 cups at a time, and processed them in the food processor until the masa was nice and soft and fine textured.  The trick is to add a little water and let it process long enough!  I would suggest for 2 cups of the prepared kernels, you add about 1/2 cup of water.  You might want to start with 1/3 cup and add a tiny bit more if needed.  Stop the machine from time to time and scrape down the contents.  Eventually, it will mostly be gathered together in one mass and look like this:

And when I got it out, it looked like this! See, Mely?

We just finished eating some tostadas with refries, lettuce, salsa and cheese for lunch.  The flavor of the fresh masa is incredible.  You can't buy this at a store.  It might seem like a lot of work, but it's not, really, now that I can just use the processor!

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursday!