This tortilla burger which I will make is a simple dish to make. What ingredients that I need to make this tortilla burger are (for 4 serving):
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 pound ground meat
• 4 flour or corn tortillas
• Salsa sauce (optional)
After I make the meat into minced meat, then I start to cook the meat with spices that I already prepared. Luckily, those spices are already carried in my backpack like cumin, oregano, and red pepper. I already get some fresh oregano during our trip to herb valley just now, only need to dry it up. The way to make these tortilla burgers is very easy, all I need to do are:
• In a small bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Crumble meat over seasonings and mix well. Shape into four oval patties.
• Grill, covered, over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 160°. Serve on tortillas with salsa sauce if desired.
With Silvie making the tortilla and I grilling the meat, we can make this tortilla burger faster. Only around 30 minutes to make this recipe done Salsa sauce is not hard to make because we have the ingredients fresh in the kitchen. It seems Mrs. Harvard already left some vegetables when she returns from the field before we return.
With the meat that Mr. Matius give to me, I give him 8 tortillas in return. He looks happy when seeing the tortillas that we just make for him
"Master Ikki, what kind of food is this? I just see this kind of food for the first time in my life"
"This food called tortilla burgers. Tortilla is this skin that wrapped the meat inside"
"Wow, this is breakthrough in the way of eating master Ikki. With this tortilla skin, we can bring and eat it anywhere. It's so practical, just like that frikadel"
"I hope you like the taste Mr. Matius"
"Hahaha…just by smelling the flavor I already like it. Master Ikki, excuse me, I will go back and eat this with my family"
After bid goodbye, Mr. Matius left the house with those tortillas in his hand. I just hope he's not eating all of those tortillas on the way he back. After close the door, I return to the kitchen to help Silvie that still cooking for our dinner tonight.
"Silvie, can you cook what I just made just now?"
"Um, if only grilling those meats, I can do that Ikki"
"Then I leave it to you, I want to make the soap that I promise to make before"
"Yes, leave that to me. Just do what Ikki want to do"
I take some empty earthenware pots, a bowl with a bit camellia oil, and the barrel contains the fats to the backyard. Before I start to make the soap, I must make a fireplace in the backyard first. I can't make it in the kitchen because the soap making process will produce stink smell as chemical reaction from alkali and fats which create sulfide hydroxide that has stink smell like rotten eggs.
After the fireplace ready, I cook some fats in the pot until the fats liquid come out from heated fats. When there's no more liquid I can get from the fats, I put aside the liquid into other pot, dump the mush of fats and heating the new fats again until I get enough liquid fats in other pot. After the liquid fats are enough, the soap making process begins.
First I take some cloth to cover my mouth and nose from the unwanted smell that comes out from the process. Second, I take the extracted alkali from the bottom of the alkali extraction barrel. Third, I'm heating the liquid fats, stir it slowly with a wooden stick and remove any impurities that I can see within the liquid. Fourth, bit by bit, I pour the camellia oil into the fat liquid while keep stirring it and make them mixed completely. After the liquid fats and camellia oil mixed, I start to pour the alkali I get from extraction little by little into the pot while keep stirring the pot. Usually, the ratio between plant oil and animal oil is 8 ounce plant for one pound animal fat oil while the alkali need for this saponification (soap making) process is about 0.142 pound.
Since I don't bring any measurement tools, I just add according to my intuition. And just I predicted, the bad odor starts to rise from the pot. I keep stirring the pot until all the mixture becomes thicker and like mushy. When the mixture getting mushy and hard to stir anymore I remove the pot from the fire and prepare the mound. Before I pour the mixture into the mound, I smear the mound with some grease to prevent the soap from getting sticky to the mound, after that, I pour the mixture carefully into the mound. I repeat the process until all the mixture in the pot all used and placed in the mound. If I have some plastic wrap I would use that to cover the mound so no moisture will be absorbed into the mound. But since there's no plastic in this world, I just put some wooden plank as mound cover.
I don't realize the day is already dusk when I'm finish making the soap, and Silvie is watching me from the door still with pinching her nose.
"Silvie, you're done with the cooking?"
"I already finished a while ago and then watching Ikki make the soap"
"You can release your hand from your nose. It's already finished and not too smelly anymore"
"Um, is it always making stinky smell when making the soap Ikki?"
"Hahaha…it's part of the process, but the result will surprise you"
"How long before that soap can be used?"
"I don't know, until it's hard enough to grip, then it's done. Could be in some days later"
"Um, if you finish, you can go inside the house Ikki, father also already return from meeting with other refugee camps"
"Chief Harvard already return? Wait, I clean up the tools first before come inside"
"I'll help you"
With Silvie help me cleaning the tools that I used to make the soap, I can finish my work faster. After washing my hand and face with water, together with Silvie, I enter the house to see chief Harvard.