Tostadas (Crispy Tortillas)

It’s much easier than you might think to make excellent tostadas — the crispy tortillas that can be used as a base for a composed tostada, an accompaniment to aguachiles, ceviches, Vuelve a la Vida and other seafood dishes, or broken up and used to dip in guacamole. Though tostadas can certainly be made by frying corn tortillas, they’re also often made by drying out fresh tortillas — either over low heat on top of a comal or griddle, or in an oven in low heat. We recommend making them using heirloom masa harina, but you can also use ordinary Maseca, or other supermarket masa harina.

READ: Crunchy, light and fun, heirloom-corn tostadas will set you free this summer

The basic recipe makes smallish tostadas, a little smaller than 5 inches in diameter. These are ideal for Olivia Lopez’s Scallop Ceviche Tostadas (or other seafood tostadas), or Chicken Tinga Tostadas. To make larger or smaller tostadas, follow the instructions at the end of the recipe. The small ones that come at the very end are super nice to accompany ceviches and aguachiles.

Makes 6 tostadas, about 5 inches each.