Bean Tortillas (made out of beans!)

Nom, Nom, Nom.

Oh, ahem, excuse me that was just the sound of me eating a can of beans in the form of a--what?--tortilla!

I have search exhaustively for a good tortilla recipe that is not wheat-based. I finally gave up and have been making traditional chaptis from whole wheat and all-purpose flour. After deciding against making another batch of chapatis (because eating twenty in two days is plenty), this recipe just came to me unexpectedly. I nailed it!

These tortillas have the "feel" of a tortilla, though the consistency is more like a corn tortilla, and are a perfect way to get food from Point A (the plate) to Point B (your mouth). In my case, since hummus seemed like a weird thing to eat on a garbanzo bean tortilla, I opted for mango pickle. I can see eating these with cooked vegetables or anything else...except hummus.

Rice Flour and Garbanzo Bean Tortillas

Method:

In a food processor, process just enough to mix:

1 teaspoon ground flax seed

1/4 cup water

Add:

1 teaspoon chia seeds

Pulse a few times just to mix the chia seeds into the flax mixture. Let this combo sit for about 20 minutes so that the liquid thickens.

After twenty minutes, add:

1/2 cup drained and rinsed garbanzo beans

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Process until smooth, then add:

1/4 cup rice flour

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (optional)

Process until dough forms, scraping down sides once in between. Place dough into a medium bowl and add:

1/4 cup rice flour

Knead gently until a smooth dough results. Dough should be soft, light, and only slightly sticky. Lightly coat hands in oil and knead dough for another minute or two. Flour a cutting board and rolling pin (I used spelt flour for this), and have a small bowl of flour on the side. Heat a skillet to medium. Form balls from the dough and roll them in flour while they wait for their turn to be rolled flat (for a twist, you can add garam masala to the flour coating to spice it up!). Since the dough is stickier and less dense than traditional tortilla dough, you have to manually turn the flattened dough to form a round shape (as opposed to sliding it around with the rolling pin itself). A lighter weight rolling pin is useful here but not necessary.

Optional: Spray a light coat of cooking spray on skillet and top side of tortilla.

Lift tortilla carefully, placing it upside down in one hand and gently flipping it on the griddle so the oiled side is up, if using oil. Cook until bottom is browned, then flip. Again, cook until browned. You can tell when it is cooked through and ready to turn by the edges raising slightly as the dough tightens. They won't brown without oil so look for crispness and a change in overall color to determine done-ness. You may want to wipe away excess flour from the skillet between tortillas as it tends to burn and stick to the new tortillas.

Dough can be wrapped in plastic wrap and saved overnight. Leftover tortillas keep their texture, just save in an airtight container.