I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
By Erika L. Sanchez
The novel follows Julia and her family after the sudden death of her sister Olga. The family are Mexican American and living in Chicago.
Tortillas figure on several occasions throughout the novel. Including the following very detailed description about the process of making flour tortillas.
“On Saturday morning, Ama is making flour tortillas. I can smell the dough and hear the rolling pin from my bedroom when I wake up…She’s bent over the table, stretching a little ball of dough into a perfect circle…I study the tortillas as they heat on the comal and try to flip them before they burn. When I turn the first one, I see that I’ve left it too long. That side is almost burned. Ama tells me that the second one is too pale, that I have to leave it on longer, but when I do, it gets too crisp. When I burn the third one completely, Ama sighs and tells me to roll them out instead, while she heats them. I take her rolling pin and try my best to shape the little balls into circles. Most of them end up in weird shapes, no matter how much I try to fix them.”
My experience of making the tortillas pretty much mirrored Julia’s!
Check out some more tortilla references from the novel below:
“I don’t want to bother my parents because they have enough to worry about, but I’m so hungry and tired of eating nothing but tortillas and eggs.”
“Apa hasn’t eaten much, either. The other day he brought home a brick of Chihuahua cheese and a stack of tortillas, so we ate quesadillas for several days, but we’ve run out now.”
“Mexican ladies are always trying to feed you, whether you like it or not. As much as I get sick of eating Mexican food every single day of my life, if heaven existed, I know it would smell like fried tortillas. Mama Jacinta gives me a giant plate of beans, rice, and shredded beef tostadas covered with sour cream, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes.”
.
“I take a few chicharrones, put them in a soft tortilla, and drown them in dark red salsa.”
Let’s Make Tortillas!
(Below is how I made flour tortillas, but the process for corn, is virtually identical.)
The ingredients:
- Vegetable Oil
- Salt
- All Purpose Flour
- Corn Meal (really this should be Masa Harina, but I was being cheap and lazy so substituted for corn meal)
- Hot Water (not pictured)
- Rolling Pin (not an ingredient, but you do need one)
About to enjoy the finished product as tacos!
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