23 Making Tortillas

With all the new fruits they found on the trip, Amber was planning to teach them some new recipes. She missed the Mexican food from home. With avocados, lime, and garlic she could make some Guacamole! She hadn't found any tomatoes or onions yet, but she didn't like onions anyways.

If she found some tomatoes, she could use them to make other foods like tomato sauce or maybe some kind of ketchup. Maybe in the springtime, there might be more vegetables available. For now, she was already very happy to find limes, lemons, and avocados.

She was thinking about how to make some tortillas. If she can find some wheat or corn, she can grind it into a powder and make flour. Her mates and beast guardians seemed eager to help her with anything she wanted to do.

Maybe it was a pregnancy craving, but she wanted Fajitas. She should teach Nick how to make them tonight with lime juice and garlic.

They headed back to the castle and found Nick and Ray were waiting for them. Nick approached Amber and hugged her. He missed her even though it had only been a few hours.

He was able to trade a green gem for wheat and rice from the Lion King. It was not much, just a few bags, but it would help them get through the cold season. Next year he could plant some rice and wheat in the fields.

Nick kissed Amber quickly and was excited to share his findings with her. He exclaimed, "I was able to trade a green gem for a few bags of wheat and rice. It should help us last through the cold season!"

Amber was happy he found the wheat and rice. She could use them in so many ways. She used to watch her family cook. Her stepdad was Asian and usually cooked at home, but she also had an aunt from Mexico who was a culinary arts instructor.

She had a vague idea of how to make tortillas from flour, water, salt, and fat. She could use some of the fat from the meat they cooked earlier.

It would be a trial-and-error way of making tortillas, but without any recipes or way to measure the ingredients it was the best she could do for now.

Amber replied to Nick, "That is great! I can try to make some new food with the rice and wheat."

The others were excited to try her new food, but some were skeptical. Ray informed her, "I have heard that not many beast men like the wheat because it tastes bad when it is cooked."

Amber replied, "That is because they don't know how to use it correctly. If we shell it and then grind it into flour it can be used in many different ways."

Ray made an "Oh" face and the rest looked eager to help. Barry offered, "I can help you turn the wheat into flour. How do we shell it?"

Amber showed them how to remove the wheat berries from the rest of the wheat stalks. Her great-grandmother had come over as an immigrant from Poland and shared stories about working in the fields with her family.

Amber had never done it before personally but had an idea of how to turn the wheat berries into flour. With all the beast men eager to help the process was finished in about an hour.

Amber was excited to have flour, even if it was whole wheat flour instead of white flour. She told Nick the ingredients she needed for the tortillas.

Nick gathered the salt, flour, water, and animal fat. Amber was excited to play with some dough! She started with the flour and added some salt.

She mixed all the ingredients until she got the consistency she wanted. She rolled the dough into balls and then flattened them as much as she could. She used the flour so the tortillas wouldn't stick together or to the surface of the clean stone counter.

Oliver had already heated a stone to cook on per Amber's instructions and found a flat piece of bamboo to use as a spatula. Amber passed a tortilla to Oliver, and he carefully placed it on the hot stone.

They all watched with curiosity to see this new creation of Amber's. While they waited for it to cook, Amber explained the uses of tortillas.

"Tortillas can be used to make tacos and other foods. Tacos can be filled with anything you want. We used to make breakfast tacos with eggs and other ingredients or lunch tacos with meat."

Since they had meat already, she told Ray to season the meat with Lime juice and garlic. She was going to make fajitas. She also asked him to cut the meat into thin strips.

The tortilla started to bubble up and Oliver was a little alarmed. He thought that he messed up Amber's hard work.

She comforted him and explained, "That is good! That means it is ready to flip and cook the other side."

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief and flipped the tortilla as Amber instructed him. It took a few tries, but he was able to flip it and continue cooking.

Soon the tortilla was done. It was not as thin as the ones she usually ate and didn't rise like bread. It was closer to the consistency of pita bread.

Amber was happy to have some kind of bread to eat in this beast world. They waited a few minutes for the tortilla to cool and Nick tried it first to make sure it was safe to eat.

His eyebrows went up in surprise! This was new to him, and it was good. His female was so good at cooking and making new foods! He was so proud!

Amber asked, "How is it?" Nick replied, "It is very good! I have never tried anything like this before!" He handed the tortilla to Amber, and she tried it.

It was a little bland, it needed some more salt, but the consistency was good. Amber added a little bit of salt to the rest of the dough and made another tortilla.

While this one was cooking, she passed the cooked tortilla around for the others to try. They each took a little bit and were all surprised to eat it as well!

Oliver cooked the second one with more confidence than the first one. He learned quickly!

While they were making the tortillas, Amber thought about the rice. If she had tomatoes, onions, and peppers, she could make some Mexican rice. For now, she could make some plain rice.

She had asked about some bamboo and Tyler had brought some bamboo back with him when he went to collect eggs. She instructed him how to slice the bamboo into strips and some into cups.

Now she had a whole new set of bamboo dishes! Amber asked Tom, "Tom, could you bring the rice with a stone bowl and a bamboo stick?"

He was happy to help and brought them to her. Amber showed them how to separate the rice from the husk by pounding it and letting the husk blow away. They were all very impressed with this technique.

Usually, it would take all day for a beast man to peel the rice by hand. With this new technique, they could shell the rice in a few minutes. It would save so much time!

Amber was like a goddess! They needed to treasure her more and not allow anyone else to steal her away!

Tom quickly pounded about half a bowl of rice and went to the river to rinse it. He was extra careful not to waste any rice. Rice was precious in the beast world.

He brought back the rice and some water. Amber showed them how to boil the rice and added a little bit of salt for flavor. She started to weave the strips of bamboo to make a lid for the stone pot.

Fred and Tyler helped her weave the bamboo. Nick started to grill the meat. The food smelled amazing, and they were all excited to eat!

Oliver finished the tortillas and Amber tasted it again. It needed a little more salt. She was surprised at how much salt was used in tortillas!

Salt was precious in the beast world because they did not know how to extract it from the seawater. They could only trade with mermen for salt a few times a year.

Amber had already told them how to make salt themselves and Nick was eager to try it. He would lead a group of beast men to the sea before the cold season.

He wanted to make sure Amber had everything she needed for the cold season. She was pregnant and would most likely give birth in the spring. That meant she would eat a lot during the cold season.

The food finished cooking and they gathered to enjoy the feast!