Belize - Garnaches

Garnaches are popular in Belize, but they are also eaten in other Central American and South American countries because of their cheap ingredients and ease of preparation. All every garnache absolutely needs is a fried tortilla, but the toppings are completely up to you. For my first time making them, I've kept it simple with these ingredients, enough to make 4 garnaches:

4 corn tortillas
200g mild salsa
450g refried beans
50g finely grated parmesan
1/2 cup oil

The oil isn't shown for some mysterious reason, also because I forgot.

Heat the oil until it's at frying temperature, which you can test by putting a crumb of tortilla in and seeing if it quickly crisps up. At the same time, in a separate pan, begin heating your refried beans. Put a single tortilla in the oil and fry it for a minute on each side or until done. When the tortilla is done, it will bubble up and start to brown.

I thought I had taken a picture of a finished tortilla straight out of the frying pan because it was lovely and golden brown with delicate large bubbles all over it, but apparently I didn't, so we'll move on to the topping. First, spread your lovely, hot refried beans, about two heaping tablespoons per tortilla:

Then add several dollops of salsa, three to four tablespoons of it:

Now, sprinkle your parmesan cheese liberally over the top:

Finally, after all your hard work, eat it! I was very surprised by the fried corn tortilla, it comes out perfectly crispy and with sort of a sweet taste. The refried beans have a nice texture, the cold salsa cools your mouth, and the parmesan adds an extra flavor on top of it all. I'll make these again with other toppings; they'd be great with melted cheese, with ground beef, or maybe fried vegetables. I hope you make them and experiment with the toppings too, I'd love to hear about your results in the comments below.