Prepare the Homemade Corn Tortilla dough according to its separate recipe, using 160g masa harina, 2g salt, and 200g warm water. Mix until the dough is soft, hydrated, and no dry masa remains. Rest covered for 20 minutes. Divide into 16 equal balls of about 22–23g each. Keep the dough covered at all times so the masa does not dry out. Press each tortilla to about 11.4cm / 4.5 inches diameter and cook on a dry hot skillet or comal until lightly charred, flexible, and cooked through. Stack immediately under a towel so the tortillas steam and stay pliable. Do not overcook the tortillas. Flautas need tortillas that are soft enough to roll tightly without cracking. A slightly undercooked, still-pale tortilla is actually preferable to a fully charred one here — the goal is maximum pliability for rolling, and the frying stage will finish cooking the tortilla anyway.

Pat the chicken thighs dry. Toss with salt, cumin, smoked paprika, chilli powder, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Heat 15ml neutral oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken thighs for 3–4 minutes per side, until browned. Add the sliced onion and minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes, scraping the browned bits from the pan. Add the chicken stock or water. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 18–22 minutes, until the chicken reaches 74°C and shreds easily. Browning the chicken thighs whole before simmering, rather than starting from raw diced chicken, builds a genuine fond on the bottom of the pan — scraping that fond up with the onion and garlic carries directly into the braising liquid that eventually gets reduced back into the shredded filling.

Transfer the chicken to a board and rest for 5 minutes. Shred into medium strands. Return the shredded chicken to the skillet with the cooking juices and lime juice. Cook uncovered for 3–5 minutes, stirring often, until the chicken is moist but not wet. The filling should be juicy enough to hold together but dry enough that it does not leak into the tortillas. Wet filling will steam the flautas from the inside and soften the shell. This reduction stage is doing real work — it's not simply warming the shredded chicken back up, but actively driving off excess liquid until what remains is concentrated flavour clinging to the meat rather than pooling loosely around it.

Toss the Roma tomatoes, white onion, and garlic with olive oil and salt. Broil or roast until the tomatoes soften and blister, and the onion develops browned edges, about 8–12 minutes. Blend the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, cumin, raw jalapeño, lime juice, and cilantro until chunky-smooth. Taste and adjust salt. The salsa should be bright red, spoonable, and thick enough to sit on the plate without running everywhere. Adding the jalapeño raw at the blending stage, rather than roasting it alongside the tomatoes, keeps its heat sharper and fresher-tasting against the roasted sweetness of the tomatoes and onion.

Mash the avocado with a fork until partly smooth and partly chunky. Fold in the red onion, jalapeño, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt, black pepper, and green Tabasco if using. Fold gently, not aggressively. Guacamole should stay rustic and chunky, not turn into a smooth green paste. Rest for 10 minutes before serving. The short rest allows the flavours from the onion, garlic, and lime to distribute through the mashed avocado, rounding out what would otherwise taste like separate ingredients sitting on top of plain avocado.

Dice the tomato and toss with kosher salt. Let sit for 5 minutes, then drain off excess liquid. Toss the drained tomato with the shredded lettuce and lime juice. Do not skip draining the tomato. Watery tomato will bleed across the plate and make the flautas soggy. Salting the diced tomato briefly draws out its internal liquid through osmosis before it ever reaches the plate — skipping this step means that liquid releases later instead, right where it can soak into the crisp fried flautas.

Warm the tortillas again briefly if they have cooled. They must be flexible before rolling. Place 25–30g shredded chicken filling across the lower third of each tortilla. Roll tightly into a narrow tube. Secure with a toothpick if needed. Repeat with all 16 tortillas. Do not overfill. These are small tortillas, and overfilled flautas split open in the oil. Rolling tightly rather than loosely is what gives the finished flauta its structural integrity in the fryer — a loosely rolled tube has room to unfurl under the oil's movement, while a tight roll holds its shape even without a toothpick in most cases.

Heat 2–3cm neutral oil in a skillet to 175–180°C. Add the flautas seam-side down in batches and fry for 2–3 minutes per side, turning as needed, until deeply golden, blistered, and very crisp. Transfer to a rack and season lightly while hot. Do not stack them. Steam trapped between hot flautas softens the crust. Starting seam-side down is the detail that keeps a tightly rolled flauta from unravelling in the oil — the direct contact with hot oil sets and seals that seam within the first several seconds, before the tube has any opportunity to loosen.

Arrange 4 flautas per serving in a fan pattern. Add a generous spoonful of chunky guacamole on one side and bright salsa roja on the other. Add the shredded lettuce and diced tomato beside the flautas. Drizzle crema across the flautas in thick white lines. Scatter crumbled queso fresco over the top. Finish with fresh cilantro leaves and lime wedges. Serve immediately while the flautas are hot and crisp. Keeping the guacamole and salsa positioned beside rather than under the flautas is a visual and textural choice at once — burying the crisp tubes under either sauce would both hide their golden colour and begin softening the fried shell on contact.