En la cocina

Cooking in Nueva San Ysidro is an all day affair; no Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals. Here's the kitchen inside one of the new houses, complete with a new eco-stove, which has made things a lot easier.

Mostly, the women are busy making tortillas. Every day, each woman makes close to 100 tortillas, depending on the size of her family. Each tortilla is about the size of a fist. 

First, they take corn (off the cob, not cooked) and soak it in water. Then they grind it using hand-operated grinders. That's probably the hardest part. I was really surprised at how little corn meal came from so many kernels. They grind a ton of corn. Then the corn meal is mixed with water to make dough. They only make enough dough for the day, otherwise it would dry out and get infested with bugs. 

Watching the tortillas being made, after the dough is ready, is probably the coolest part of the process. These women are amazing. They work so fast. Machine-like. They take a little piece of dough, roll it into a ball between their hands, and flatten it into a tortilla. Every tortilla is almost exactly the same size, with perfectly round edges. Then the tortilla goes onto the stove for a few minutes, gets flipped for another few minutes, and is done. They usually get wrapped up in a towel so they can stay warm.

When I was in Nueva San Ysidro 2 weeks ago, I helped one of the women make tortillas. She put me to shame. For every tortilla I made, she probably made 5 or 6. And it was really obvious which ones were mine. (The thin, misshaped ones, that no one wanted to eat). Even though I'm pretty sick of eating tortillas at this point, I have a serious appreciation for how they're made.