How To Make The Perfect Fried (Puffed-up) Gorditas

Here at the restaurant we love Gorditas, so today I wanted to post about how to make the perfect Gorditas. What better place to go to get great directions is  http://easycookingwithsandyb.blogspot.com/2014/05/fried-puff-up-gorditas.html

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing great! Sorry for the delay in this week’s video, I’ve got sick with a horrible cold, and wasn’t able to do the voice-over until now. So Today’s video is another Mexican dish, very popular in my hometown, and I have to say I could eat these everyday if I could, I just love them so much, they are so light and crisp and somewhat flaky, much better than regular flour or corn Gorditas! I  hope you like them as much as I do. Enjoy

Makes 12 Gorditas
Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Maseca (Corn Flour or Masa Harina)
  • ¼ cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • Vegetable oil for Frying
  • about 1½ cups Water (more if needed)

In a large bowl, combine the Maseca (corn flour) with the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt, mix well until combined, then add in the water. Knead this mixture with your hands, until you get a soft and uniform dough.   The dough should be humid, without being too wet or sticky. If you need to add more water, feel free to add more water, and if your dough is looking too wet or sticky, feel free to add more Maseca.

Once your dough has the right consistency, grab about 2 or 2½ tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a small ball, keep on making small balls with the rest of the dough until you are done. This amount of dough will make 12 dough balls.

Roll out or flatten the small balls to an  ⅛ of an inch thickness, to make the Gorditas. (You can roll them out with a rolling pin, or flatten them with a tortilla presser, or just by pressing them down with a plate or skillet!)

These Gorditas should be slightly thicker than a regular corn tortilla and slightly thinner than a flour Gordita.  Fried Gorditas are supposed to puff-up  or inflate when you fry them, but if you make them too thick, as soon as you place them in the oil, the Gordita will absorb too much oil and it wont inflate at all.   Mine are always about ⅛ of inch thick, just very slightly thicker than a corn tortilla!

If you end up making them too thick, they will still be enough, they will be more oily and kind of soggy, but still very flavorful and delicious. Fried Gorditas are supposed to be light, airy, flaky and crisp.  So remember no to make them too thick.. And if you make them too thin, they will just crumble, if it’s your first time making this kind of Gorditas, I recommend, you roll out one of them, and then fry it, see if that thickness works for you, and after that, just keep on making the gorditas.

These will cook very fast, they will cook for about 40-45 seconds on each side. As soon as the Gorditas puff-up, flip them around to cook the second side, and once they are cooked, remove the from the oil and place them on paper towels, to drain the excess oil.  Let them cool for about 30 seconds, then grab a small knife and make a small opening around the edge of the Gordita, just slice it open to fill it up with your delicious filling.  You don’t have to slice it all the way through, just about 1/3 of the way.

Once all the Gorditas are cooked and sliced open, now you can fill them with your favorite food.
I filled mine with Chicken Tinga, Ground Meat in Guajillo Sauce and Pork Rinds in Green sauce.

Serve them with your favorite Salsa and Enjoy!!