MEXICAN TORTA !!

My show-stopper Mexican torta !!

I am writing this post after many months but I had lot of stuff going on. Finally I decided to start what I enjoy doing - posting recipes, so here I am with my brand new Mexican Torta Sandwich !! Now when you hear the word "Torta" some kind of cake/pastry comes to your mind but in Mexico, torta is simply a kind of sandwich and that's what I am gonna show you today. 

The other day, we went to an authentic Mexican restaurant and I saw this name listed under the vegetarian section. I had never heard about it so I became curious and ordered it. It turned out to be a very delicious bean sandwich with bold flavors of cilantro and lemon. That's when I decided to try this out in my kitchen. I made a few changes here mainly by adding grilled veggies and using the traditional kind of bread. And voila, it turned out to be my family's favorite !!

Grilled veggies add a nice crunch and give body to the sandwich. I found the Mexican torta bread at Costco. If you don't find that, try using bolillo rolls or some kind of firm, crusty exterior white sandwich rolls with soft interior - that should help. Now torta is a hexagon shaped lightly sweet firm kind of bread. When you slice it into the side at its center, you will see lots of air pockets, which suggests that the bread is extremely light.  If you have never seen a Mexican torta bread, here's how it looks ;

Mexican torta bread

Here's what you will need for a torta, first we will prepare beans. Now you can buy ready-to-eat beans but what I like to do is make my own. That way I can adjust what flavors I want and I am not adding any kind of preservatives to it, they are fresh and trust me that makes all the difference !! This recipe makes 7-8 sandwiches.

Ingredients for sweet-tangy beans :-

3/4 cup pinto/black/red beans

Pinto beans

1 medium red onion, chopped fine
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 1/2 tsp honey
salt to taste
2 tsp olive oil
3/4 tsp red chili powder or according to taste
2 tsp tomato ketchup


Process for sweet-tangy beans :-

1.  Soak beans overnight.  Add salt and pressure cook with

4-5 whistles till they turn soft. If using stove top, add salt       and cook for about 30-40 mins. till soft.

2.  Heat olive oil in a deep pan, add onion and let it saute for 3-4 mins. till translucent. Now add garlic and saute for a     minute or so.

Sweet-tangy beans

3.  Add beans and rest of the ingredients, mix properly. Add   salt if required (we have already added salt while               cooking the beans). The beans will taste sweet and tangy,     they go very well with 'beans and rice'. Garnish with             cilantro if you wish.

Ingredients for the sandwich :-

1 packet Torta sandwich rolls
1 pack fiesta cheese blend or mexican cheese blend

Fresh veggies

1 red onion, halved then thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced vertically
1 zucchini, sliced into circles
1 summer squash, sliced into circles
1 avocado, sliced long
3 poblano peppers sliced lengthwise
handful of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 a lime
olive oil
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste


Process :-

1.  Preheat oven at 450 F. Here we bake all veggies               separately (excluding onion and avocado) so arrange             them on separate baking trays.

Grilled red bell peppers

Grilled poblano peppers

2.  Drizzle a tsp. of olive oil, salt and black pepper on each     sheet and bake the veggies for about 8-10 mins. till they         are cooked but stay firm and crunchy.

Grilled summer squash & zucchini

3.  Slice the torta in half horizontally, drizzle olive oil on         both halves and place them under 'broil' for couple of             seconds till the flesh turns golden.

Golden torta halves

4.  To assemble, layer one half with generous amount of         cheese and broil it for couple of seconds so it melts.

Cheese and sweet-tangy beans

Layered veggies

Topped with freshly sliced avocado 

5.  Spread a big spoonful of sweet-tangy beans on other half. Top it with couple slices of all grilled veggies, onion and         avocado slices. Garnish it with fresh cilantro and a drizzle     of lime juice. Now, top it with other piece of torta and             voila !, your mexican torta is ready to dig in !! Disfrutar !!!

Torta garnished with cilantro and lime juice, yum !!