It’s a Tortilla Fest!
Tortillas, roti, wraps—whatever you want to call them, you can make these delights out of just about anything. Focus your nutritional intake by making a wrap out of whatever is it that you would like to eat more of at the moment.
If higher protein is your goal, you may want to make wraps from legumes, as in lentils, garbanzos, or even beans. You can use flour if you can find it, blend cooked beans, or soak raw lentils in an equal part water for a couple of hours before blending well and pouring into a hot pan. When you’re looking to cut down on the carbs, this is an excellent option. You’ll want to eat them freshly made, and you may want to load them with spices or herbs before cooking. Curry powder and turmeric seem to work well with these ingredients, along with perhaps a bit of nutritional yeast. Don’t forget the salt! The pan should be hot before pouring in the batter, and have either a solid non-stick surface or light oiling. Spread the batter thin. Be patient.
If you’re looking for a smoother consistency and prefer to wrap up with a grain, you can make a tortilla wrap from just about any of them. If the grain softens with soaking, such as oats or farro, you can just wait until the grain absorbs the water before blending and pouring into a hot pan. Other grains will need to be cooked first, such as rice and quinoa, unless you’re using flours from these grains. Flavoring with rosemary can add a lovely nuance to your wraps; just be sure to break the herb into small pieces.
Naturally, it’s also fine to blend a mix into your wraps. Chickpea-whole wheat? Red bean-brown rice? Chickpea-lentil-quinoa? Use vegetable juice in place of the water for a super power-packed wrap.
The next decision is how to eat them! You can pile some yumminess into the middle and wrap it up like a burrito, use as a side accompaniment for a delicious meal of soup or perhaps scooping up dal, or enjoy them in their own right as chips. Your chips can be oil-fried, air-fried, toasted, or baked. If you’re going the chip route, think about how you will eat them. If you plan to eat them by themselves, consider the flavoring situation. You may want to sprinkle with some onion or garlic powder, or even cinnamon and sugar for that sweet-tooth satisfaction. Chips are of course also great for scooping, though you’ll find some ingredients hold up better than others with it comes to dipping the chips into toppings.
Because most are made from corn or wheat, wrap shells are typically a carbohydrate serving. No doubt, this is all we can find in the stores because shells made from the other kinds of ingredients simply do not have a reasonable shelf life. But we can eschew these carb servings and turn them into protein servings, and target our own nutrient intake, by making our own wraps at home from our own selected ingredients.
This is an excellent way to take more control of your diet. And for a lot of people, the legume-based tortillas feel like a bread serving, so they’re getting fewer carbs with the same tongue satisfaction.
It’s easier than you think!
Michele Poff lives in the area and works as a professional writer, editor, course creator, and investigative researcher.