Special Quesadillas - El Centro Style
I’ve only ever seen these deep fried quesadillas in the Imperial Valley. Though these days you can also find them in NYC at Los Tacos #1.
Ingredients
- 3 cups self rising flour (note it has to be self rising not all purpose)
- 2 TB solid shortening (criso) or lard
- salt to taste
- 1 & 1/8 cups cups of water
- grated jack or chihuahua cheese
- oil for frying
Directions
- cut shortening into the flour with a pastry blender
- add salt
- stir in water slowly with fork until a ball of dough is formed
- cover and let dough sit 20 mins
- form dough into about 12 balls
- roll dough into tortilla sized discs
- add cheese
- fold in half and seal the quesadilla
- fry them, flipping to get each side
- drain on paper towels
Notes
You can seal them by fluting the edges with a pinch or fork tines. For the authentic El Centro looking ones, you’ll want to braid the edges.
You can keep premade ones in the fridge for a day or so, but they start turning a bit gray. You can also freeze them and fry later.