Nachos, also called homemade baked tortilla chips, are typical starters or snacks of Mexican cuisine. They are made with a base of corn flour and we can find them in restaurants, cinemas, street carts, and you can also prepare them at home while watching a movie. In general, it is accompanied with sauces to spread them or, even, as part of the filling of a sandwich or taco to give it a crunchy touch. However, its perfect match is cheddar cheese molten. They owe their origin, like many other recipes, to the need to solve an emergency situation, with easy-to-find and cheap ingredients. This is how Ignacio Anaya Garcia created these triangle-shaped fried corn tortillas, they were a hit with eager diners. They called them “Nacho’s Special” (El especial de Nacho), since that is how the Ignacio’s are nicknamed. Hence, the name “nachos” with which we know these fried tortillas worldwide today.
Ingredients to make healthy Nachos:
• 100 grams of flour 000
• 50 grams of corn flour
• 50 grams of grated cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• ½ teaspoon of turmeric
• 50 grams of vegetable puree (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of neutral oil
How to make healthy Nachos:
If you are wondering how to make nachos with baked wheat tortillas, you must first mix the wheat flour with the corn flour. We point out that you can separate these ingredients into more than one container to make tortillas of different colors, incorporating vegetable puree.
Mix the flours with the grated cheese, the oil and the seasonings. You should know that you can vary the seasonings according to the vegetable you use. For example, for nachos with spinach, you can use cumin and garlic powder, while for beets, you can use thyme, turmeric, and pepper. Do not forget to divide the amount of oil and cheese in equal parts for each of the varieties of nachos that you want to make.
Tip: if you follow a diet free of animal products, you can skip the grated cheese.
Finally, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable puree to the containers. In this case, we have used mashed beets cooked in the microwave, peeled and processed. Also, spinach puree, made from the blanched and processed leaves. At this point, integrate them and cover your dough to let it rest for about 20 minutes. And, if you prefer to make the nachos without vegetables, replace the 2 tablespoons of puree with hot water and knead, checking that the flour is properly hydrated. If it doesn’t, moisten your hands and continue kneading until just moist.
Tip: Keep in mind that the vegetables will add fiber to the nachos, as well as flavor. This will make them even healthier.
After the time, turn on the oven at maximum temperature and confirm the humidity of the dough. If it sticks to your hands, add a little more flour and proceed to roll it out. To do this, place the bun between two separators or plastic wrap and stretch it 4 mm with the help of a stick. Cut the homemade nachos and place them in a previously oiled roasting pan.
Tip: Use just 1 teaspoon of oil for the pan and spread it out with your hands or a paper towel. If you use a lot of oil, it will absorb even more than it would in deep frying, and then it would no longer be healthy.
Cook them in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes and flip them over to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Healthy homemade nachos
Through frying, food can absorb 10% of its weight in oil. However, in this recipe, by cooking the healthy baked nachos you will save those 90 calories per 100 grams. In turn, you can evaluate different options to accompany the homemade baked nachos. For example, if you accompany them with pureed vegetables or low-fat cheeses, it will also be a much healthier entree than if you accompany it with whole cheeses or cheddar. However, it is important to know the health and needs of each one, but, in this case, you will be saving a large amount of calories and saturated fat in the cooking method. That is, you will make a difference in favor if, instead of making fried cheddar nachos, you eat baked cheddar nachos.
