Homemade masa is easier than you think to make and in my kitchen hack it all starts with hominy. In a food processor pulse the hominy and enough water to make a slightly sticky dough and you’re good to go.
I could easily go to my local Mexican market and order some fresh masa or I can make it myself I thought.
I mean, it’s made from hominy basically. You just can’t use cornmeal and work in some water, the process doesn’t work. Hominy is needed. Same vegetable – corn, but hominy consists of dried maize kernels that have been treated with an alkali solution (Lye, lime and ash), which takes the outer hull layer off. The soft, pulpy white kernel that is left after being washed is what you know as hominy. To read more about making homemade masa, check out this SAVUER article.
I had several cans from when I made my Posole Rojo with Pork and it’s great in my Pork Verde Enchiladas with Hominy. So I checked my pantry, found a large can and decided to put the food processor to work.
For my homemade masa I added a few of my favorite things.
So in the food processor went the drained hominy, a little kosher salt and enough water to make a slightly sticky dough. I processed it until a thick paste started to form. I like it a little chunky and rustic.
That sure beat grinding over a stone for sure.
For a little taste and color I added some achiote oil (see below) a handful of fresh cilantro and pulsed it a few more times to work it in.  These were going to be good!
When making my tortillas I sometimes use a tortilla press, it’s simple enough with some waxed paper on each side of the 1/3 cup of dough and then press. Voila! You have a tortilla.
But for me I like them a little on the plump side. Just a little toothsome, meaty so to speak. So, I made them by patting them in my hands, carefully working and flipping, patting each time as I went with a little oil on my hands to keep them from sticking.
I made 6 of them from this batch and laid them on wax paper until I was ready to cook them on the griddle.
It really doesn’t get any easier than this. Mix some up with whatever herbs or seasoning you like in them and let me know how they turn out. Go on now, try it out!
If you’re wondering how my white masa got to be a more deeper yellow, tinged with red I used some homemade Achiote oil.
For my homemade masa I wanted a little authentic coloring from some annato seeds, that beautiful rich, ruby red color you see in Mexican cuisine that is not from chilis. I didn’t want to use a manteca de cerdo, a refined lard, and decided on making some fresh achiote oil instead. You can read all about it on my other post on Achiote Paste and the Annatto Seed.
Homemade Masa Made Easy
Ingredients
- 25 oz can of hominy drained
- water
- pinch kosher salt
- handful fresh cilantro optional
Instructions
- Drain hominy and place in food processor with pinch of kosher salt and add enough water to make a slightly sticky dough.
- Add handful of fresh cilantro, leaves only, and pulse several times to incorporate.
- Allow to stand for 30 minutes minimum, covered, in refrigerator before before pressing into tortillas and cooking on both sides in a hot skillet or griddle.
Just curious, why use water when adding back some of the drained liquid from the hominy would have added to the flavor ?
I guess you could. I should have, just didn’t even consider it! Thanks Kynthia!
Hello ~ i’m living in scandinavia where it can be a problem to buy masa harina.. sorry, if this is a stupid question – but is masa harina grounded from hominy (lyed corn kernels)?
So if I ground/mill dry hominy kernels, – then I get masa harina?
Wish you a happy new year ~ regards from mayK
That’s exactly what I used, canned, soaked hominy, not dried. The calcium in the lime creates a chemical change in the corn, which makes it possible to make masa out of corn kernels. It’s impossible to make masa out of regular cornmeal. I hope this helps, or you could always order from Amazon, too.
Hello again – I have seen the dry version of hominy corn kernels in the asian food shops, never seen canned one..
but this gives me two choices as I see it, – soak the hominy kernels and follow your recipe or mill the dry hominy kernels into masa flour with the flour mill.. ?
When you use the canned hominy to make the tortillas, is it a pliable dough? – is it possible to press the dough into thinner tortillas in a tortilla press and don’t fall apart?
MayK,
Here is a great article giving descriptions of hominy, dried and soaked and it’s uses. See #1,2 and 5 in regards to your questions: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/23/hominy-what-is-it_n_5515126.html.
Another good article is this one: http://whatscookingmexico.com/2012/02/29/nixtamal-and-tortillas/#sthash.LA05J2It.dpbs.
I hope this helps. If you can’t find the cooked, canned version you can use dried, just rehydrate and cook them like you would beans as the article says.
Thank you – will both read and test out by cooking with hominy:-))
Kevin, an important part of using hominy is that the process (nixtamalization) increases the nutritional value of the corn. Yes, it improves flavor, but in Mexico the corn traditionally used is very flinty and doesn’t give up all it’s nutrition that easily, hence, the lye bath.
Great, thanks for the info Kynthia. 🙂