• Capital: Tegucigalpa
• Population: about 8.3 million
• Area: 112 492 km²
• Currency: Lempira

For my Honduran recipe I chose to make Baleadas. Baleadas seems to be the most popular street food you can get in Honduras. It is a flour tortilla filled with beans, cheese, crema and a filling of your choice. I made mine using chorizo. I will also include the recipe for the refried beans I used. Here are both recipes.

Baleadas

Ingredients:

For the tortillas:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoon vegetable shortening

For the filling:

• 2 cups refried beans (recipe follows)
• 1 avocado
• Queso fresco
• Cilantro
• Mexican crema
• You can add some meat but it’s optional (I used chorizo)

Directions:

To make the tortillas, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add 1/2 cup of water first and work the dough with your hands. Add the shortening and knead the dough. Keep on kneading and adding water until you obtain a smooth dough ball that is not too sticky. If it becomes too sticky add a little bit of flour and if it’s too dry add a little bit of water.

Once the dough is ready, set it aside to rest for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, get all the fillings ready. Remove the cilantro leaves from the stems, cut the avocado in slices, cut the chorizo in small pieces and fry them. Cut some slices of queso fresco. Prepare some crema in a small bowl. Put the refried beans in a bowl.

After the dough has been resting 30 minutes, Heat an ungreased cast iron skillet on medium heat. Cut the dough ball in 8 equal pieces and roll them out into 8 inch round circles.

Place each one of the tortilla in the cast iron skillet for about 1 minute on each side or until slightly puffed up and it has brown spots on both sides. Reserve the cooked ones in a folded clean kitchen towel while cooking all the tortillas.

Once they are ready you can either put the toppings on top of them and serve or serve at the table with all the toppings and everyone can make their own!

Refried beans

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pinto beans
• 1 onion
• A few cilantro stems
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

Directions:

Soak the beans in water overnight.

On the next day, rinse the beans and put them in a large pot with cold water. Add the cilantro stems, the peeled garlic and 1/2 the onion in one piece.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour and 1/2 to 2 hours or until the beans are soft. Once the beans are cooke, season with salt and remove the cilantro stems and the garlic.

Chop the other half of the onion and cook on medium high heat in a saucepan until translucent. Add the cumin and coat the onions with it. Add 3 cups of the beans and cook for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of cooking liquid and using a potato masher, mash the beans. They can range from slightly chunky to completely smooth. Up to you!

Reduce the heat to medium and cook until you reach the desired consistency. If they are too dry you can add a little cooking liquid and if too wet just cook a little longer. Make sure you season with salt and pepper before serving

Buen provecho!