Baleadas are one of Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

's most original and popular foods. A baleada is a wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 flour

Flour

Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...

 tortilla

Tortilla

In Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...

, often quite thick, folded in half and filled with mashed fried beans. They originate in El Progreso (Honduras) This is the no-frills baleada. People may also add other ingredients. The most common types of baleadas are the baleadas sencilla (simple baleada) which has crumbled cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

 and cream

Cream

Cream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...

. The other baleada is the baleada mixta (mixed baleada) which has same as the baleada simple but with an additional scrambled eggs. Many other people add sausage

Sausage

A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...

, plantain

Plantain

Plantain is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa. The fruit they produce is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana...

, hot sauce

Hot sauce

Hot sauce, chili sauce or pepper sauce refers to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients.-Ingredients:There are many recipes for hot sauces - the common ingredient being any kind of peppers. A group of chemicals called capsaicinoids are responsible for the heat in chili peppers...

, avocado

Avocado

The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...

, chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

, pork

Pork

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....

 and chimol which is diced tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

, onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

 and bell pepper

Bell pepper

Bell pepper, also known as sweet pepper or a pepper and capsicum , is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum . Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange and green. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as...

. The big Honduran towns often have more than one restaurant that sells baleadas.

Types of baleada

There are different kinds of baleada according to the ingredients chosen by the customer or the region of Honduras.

• Simple baleada (refried red beans, cream/crema, cheese)
• Special baleadas (refried red beans, cream/crema, cheese, scrambled eggs)
• Super special baleadas (refried red beans, cream/crema, cheese, scrambled eggs, chicken, ground meat or sausage)

In the region of Olancho and Ocotepeque

Ocotepeque

Ocotepeque is a town and municipality in the Honduran department of Ocotepeque.Located 15 miles from the Honduran–Salvadoran border as well as the Honduran–Guatemalan border, Ocotepeque is one of the first municipalities encountered when traveling between the countries...

 the special baleada is served with all of the above and carne asada (grilled meat).

There is some speculation about that "Gringas

Gringas

Gringas are a variety of tacos which uses as a base a quesadilla, consisting of a flour tortilla filled with cheese and "al pastor" meat, topped with cheese. This is then grilled in the same manner as a quesadilla...

" (a flour tortilla with melted cheese) originated from baleadas.

The Bay Island of Utila, off the coast of La Ceiba, adds pickled onions and creole (criollo) cheese to the beans.