Tostadas Guatemaltecas

Paula Bendfeldt-Diaz’s Guatemalan tostadas are crisp tortilla snacks finished with onion rings, queso duro and cilantro. Her selected recipe card prepares refried black beans, recado and guacamole, then spreads four of twelve tortillas with each sauce.

The beans boil in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover them, one of the two onions supplied cut in half, adobo and salt. They simmer on low heat for about two hours, with regular movement and more water when needed. Once soft, the beans and onion are blended in batches. The other onion is finely minced and fried in vegetable oil until golden; the puréed beans are stirred into it constantly until they form a thick paste, then covered and set aside.

For the recado, six tomatoes, a small onion, garlic and a sweet pepper boil in three cups of water. The pan is removed from the heat and allowed to cool. The ingredients are blended into a sauce and passed through a sieve. In a large pan, vegetable oil heats before the sauce, adobo and salt are added. The sauce comes to a boil and is stirred until thick, then transferred to a bowl, covered and set aside.

The avocado pulp is placed in a bowl and mashed with a fork into a purée. Finely diced onion, lime juice and oregano are added, followed by salt and pepper to taste. The guacamole is covered and set aside.

The twelve cold, thin tortillas are fried in vegetable oil until crisp and transferred to a paper-covered plate to dry off. Once cooled, four are spread with guacamole, four with refried beans and four with recado. Thin onion rings, queso duro and chopped cilantro garnish the finished tostadas.