Repochetas

Ingredients

The tortillas

• 500 gmasa harina
• about 600 ml warm water
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• or 20 ready-made tortillas

The filling

• 500 gqueso fresco
• or a firm white cheese
• grated or crumbled
• 1onion, very finely chopped
• optional

The cabbage salad

• half a white cabbage
• finely shredded
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 1onion, thinly sliced
• juice of 2 limes
• salt
• a little vinegar

To finish

• oil, to shallow fry
• crema or sour cream
• hot sauce

Directions

1. Press all of them firmly closed. Put the masa harina in a large bowl. Stir the salt right through it. Add the warm water in gradually. Add it gradually and judge by feel. It should form a soft smooth dough. Knead it in the bowl for two minutes. It should become smooth and pliable.
2. Roll a small ball and press it flat. The edges should not crack at all. Work in a little more warm water. Sticky dough needs more flour. Cover the dough and let it rest. Give it about fifteen full minutes.
3. Divide the dough into small balls. Make them about golf ball sized. Keep every one of them the same size. Weigh them if you want them exact. Press each ball between two sheets of plastic. The plastic stops it sticking entirely. Press it out thin and quite even. Cook them on a dry hot griddle. Give them about a minute a side.
4. Take them off while still flexible. Stack them under a cloth to stay soft. Making the salad is done meanwhile. Shred the cabbage as finely as you can. Use a sharp knife or a mandoline. Take real care with a mandoline.
5. Toss the cabbage with lime and salt. Add the tomato and sliced onion. Let it stand for twenty minutes. Adjust the dressing to your own taste. Lay a tortilla flat on a board. Spread cheese over one half of it.
6. Leave a clear border round the edge. Do not fill them right to the edge. Fold the tortilla over the cheese. Press the edges firmly together. Wet the border with a little water. Press it down with a fork all round. Check every one before frying. Press the edges together all round. Heat a shallow layer of oil in a pan. About a centimetre of oil is enough.
7. Adjust the heat as you cook them. Cooking them takes about four minutes. Press them down gently with a spatula. Pressing helps them crisp evenly. Work gently with a flat spatula. Judging them takes a careful look. Lift them all out onto a wire rack.
8. Let all the excess oil drip away. That softens them within minutes. Set them on a plate while hot. Pile the cabbage salad over them. Pile it right over the whole top. Add hot sauce over it to taste. The melted cheese is extremely hot.

Technique

• The edges must be sealed properly: wet the border, press it down with a fork all round and check every one, since escaping cheese burns in the oil and makes it spit badly. Leave a clear border rather than filling to the edge, and do not overfill.
• Take the tortillas off the griddle while still soft and pliable, stacked under a cloth — they must fold without cracking, and a crisp tortilla shatters when folded.
• Queso fresco softens rather than fully melting, which is what is wanted here: a fully melting cheese runs right out and burns in the oil. Fry at a medium-high heat, since too cool and they soak up oil while too hot and they burn before the cheese melts.

Substitutions

• Any firm white cheese works reasonably — mild white cheddar is acceptable and halloumi behaves quite similarly, while feta is too salty on its own.
• Sour cream thinned with a little milk stands in for Nicaraguan crema, which is thinner than sour cream.

Variations

• The cabbage salad is not a garnish but is doing a real job: fried cheese is genuinely very rich and the sharp lime-dressed raw cabbage cuts it. Shred it finely, since coarse cabbage is hard to eat on top, and let it stand twenty minutes so the salt and acid soften it.
• Masa harina is nixtamalised maize flour, treated with lime in an ancient Mesoamerican technique that releases the niacin and makes the dough bind — it is not the same as cornmeal.
• Press the frying repochetas gently with a flat spatula, which helps them crisp evenly and the cheese spread, but not hard enough to split them; a little cheese leaking crisps into a browned edge and is genuinely good, though a lot means poor sealing.

History

An evening fritanga item across Nicaragua, cheap and eaten standing at the grill.

Frequently asked questions

What is Repochetas?

Repochetas is a street food from Nicaragua: tortillas filled with cheese, folded and fried, topped with cabbage and cream. An evening fritanga item across Nicaragua, cheap and eaten standing at the grill.

How long does Repochetas take to make?

Repochetas takes 30 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 10 repochetas. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Repochetas?

Yes, within limits. Any firm white cheese works reasonably — mild white cheddar is acceptable and halloumi behaves quite similarly, while feta is too salty on its own. Sour cream thinned with a little milk stands in for Nicaraguan crema, which is thinner than sour cream.

What is the most important thing to get right in Repochetas?

Leave a clear border round the edge. Do not fill them right to the edge. Fold the tortilla over the cheese. Press the edges firmly together. Wet the border with a little water. Press it down with a fork all round. Check every one before frying. Press the edges together all round. Heat a shallow layer of oil in a pan. About a centimetre of oil is enough.