I had a client with an intolerance of tapioca, so I played around with using arrowroot and rice flour to make ulu tortillas. I found arrowroot to be most similar to using tapioca in making these ulu tortillas inspired by living on the Big Island of Hawaii and a recipe by Tom Pickett. You can use rice flour, but they are just more fragile to handle. Chef Tom Picket uses guar gum and sugar in his recipe, which I didn’t seem to miss in my version. His recipe can be found here.
Ingredients
12 oz of shredded and grated ulu (breadfruit) - You can buy frozen ulu packages from here.
1/4 cup of arrowroot flour/starch or tapioca flour from bobs red mill
3 teaspoon of coconut oil or palm oil (this type of fat will add a more golden color to the tortilla)
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of sugar (optional)
Directions
Heat stainless steal or caste iron pan over medium temperature.
Blend all of the ingredients together in a food processor.
Create 1-2 inches in diameter balls - depending how large you would like the tortilla.
Get two pieces of wax paper (about 10 inches in width and diameter). Place ball of ulu between them. You can use a rolling pin or tortilla press to flatten it. Gently remove the tortilla from the wax paper.
Place tablespoon of fat on heated pan.
Place tortilla in hot oiled pan.
Allow the tortilla to warm up; don’t flip it or move it until it is fully warm and golden on heated side (bottom part that touches the pan). The heat will convert the starch to gelatin, which is when the starch granules swells with water when exposed to heat and also called starch gelatinization.
Remove tortilla from heat when both sides are golden and the inside of the tortilla is fully cooked. Depending on the thickness of the tortilla, heat, and preference, the process can take around 5-10 minutes to cook on each side.
I use ulu tortillas to make fish tacos with pineapple salsa - three great combinations, especially when using seared ono or mahi mahi!