METAIRIE, La. (WGNO)— The Hispanic culture is rich with its history of delicious food, and in today’s special feature during Hispanic Heritage Month, WGNO’s Kenny Lopez takes us to Mawi Tortillas where they are cooking up the mouth-watering traditional Honduran dish called the baleada.
“A baleada is made with a hand-made flour tortilla and it is classically filled with beans, cheese, and crema,” explained Chef Wilfredo Avelar, Owner of Mawi Tortillas.
You may not have heard of a baleada, but once you taste one, you’ll never forget it.
“It is starting to catch buzz, it is something that’s very popular in the Latin American community, especially if you are Honduran or around Honduran people then you will definitely know what a baleada is,” Avelar said.
Chef Wilfredo at Mawi Tortillas says this is the story he knows about how baleadas originated on the Northern Coast of Honduras.
“There was a lady who started selling them from her house and she was known as the baleada lady,” he said.
Over at Mawi Tortillas, Chef Wil makes two versions.
“One of them is a simple one with just beans, cheese, and crema,” he said.
“Then you have another one with everything on it in addition to the beans, crema, and cheese, we put eggs, avocado and andouille sausage. We like to put a little Louisiana flavor on it,” he said.
He said, “I like to represent Central America through food, and especially Honduras through baleadas.”
Baleadas are typically considered a breakfast food, and over at Mawi Tortillas they sell about 20 daily.
There is even a festival dedicated to baleadas. On October 16th, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s Annual Pumpkin Patch and Fall Festival, the 4th annual Baleada Festival will be held as well. The address will be 3245 Manhattan Blvd., in Harvey.
Be sure to check out our Hispanic Heritage Special!
- Friday, October 14 at 6:30 p.m. on WGNO
- Saturday, October 15 at 9:30 p.m. on NOLA-38
