The Whole Enchilada....

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... with this novel Charles Dickens highlights the eternal struggle between love & hate, good & bad, light & dark etc. Well this has more or less been out lives for the last few months but we are survivors and we are surviving and will get through this stronger and lighter albeit a bit older.

I've been cooking, A LOT!

I've been experimenting, A LOT!

Hell, I've even picked up a paint brush again!!

But that's not what this post is about, this post is about Enchiladas, not just any Enchiladas, these are as close to the real mccoy as I could get and tastes just like the ones I ate in the USA. What helps to keep it authentic is that everything is home made and that's because ready made sauces and spice mixes aren't readily available and that's a good thing! Home made is always better even if it's just for the reason that it usually is much healthier because you control the fat, salt, sugar content and there aren't any preservatives or hidden nasties!!

The recipe might seem like a long winded process but actually it's very easy, the Enchilada sauce cooks in less time than the ground beef/chicken/pork does and then it's basically a matter of assembly and baking and then getting stuck into this deliciously flavourful thingamabob.

With regards to the ingredients, they are mostly what you have in your food cupboard in any case and if you make a double batch of the sauce you can freeze it in portion sizes and use it for flavouring meat and/or veggies, as a dipping sauce, a boerewors roll topping with chopped onion and cheddar... the list goes on.

Also, it's not the prettiest dish in the world, in fact it rather freaking ugly but you can pretty it up once it is dished up in your plate with all the toppings. If you make small Enchiladas and serve it family style, have all the toppings available so each person can personalise the experience but if you're feeding a crowd, add all the topping directly onto the enchiladas in the dish ready to serve.

Just out of the oven, see... not very pretty

Bit of bling added and just look at her!

First things first and it's perhaps the most important; Have you ever made an American recipe where it call for chili powder and even though it seems like and exorbitant amount of chili you add it because you trust this person but when you eat it you realise you should've trusted your gut because it is excruciatingly hot? Well, I'll let you in on a bit of info... American chili powder is actually a blend of spices, when they use chili only the recipe will usually ask for the chili by it's name eg. Cayenne, Jalapeno, Serrano etc and also, Chipotle chili is just a smoked Jalapeno so what I do is use regular Jalapeno and I add smoked paprika to the dish, it's not exactly the same but it's very close (you're welcome, lol) Now we can't buy American chili powder here in SA (I've searched high and low but nothing) but you can make it!! Yayyyyy!!! It's actually a very versatile spice blend and you can make it as mild or as fiery as you like it by using more or less Cayenne powder. I make it in a big batch because I use it in a lot of different ways.

American Style Chili Powder

Ingredients:

30ml Paprika

10ml Oregano

5ml Cumin

5ml Garlic powder

5ml Onion powder

7.5ml Cayenne powder

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients together and use as desired.

In this recipe the chili powder is used in the Enchilada sauce and I used a bit of it to season the beef mince.

Because the sauce is so rich and flavourful I kept the mince fairly neutral in flavour.

This is how I made the beef:

I used 500g Beef mince (don't use just the lean stuff, use half lean and half regular)

I fried ±1 tablespoon Tomato paste in a bit of oil, once fragrant and the oil red I added two cloves chopped garlic and fried it for few seconds

I added the beef, a teaspoon of the chili powder, half a teaspoon oregano, salt and pepper.

I fried it until cooked and brown, about 10 minutes.

and left it to cool.

Assembling the dish is just as easy;

I spooned some of the cooked beef onto a flour tortilla and topped with with a bit of cheese,

I then rolled it up like a swiss roll (that way you get mat and cheese in every layer and not a thick layer of tortilla).

I packed them in an ovenproof baking dish, spooned a generous lashings of the Enchilada sauce over, more cheddar cheese and baked it at 180°C for 30 minutes

Once baked I dished one Enchilada each because I used large flour tortillas.

While the baked I prepped the toppings that are very similar to Taco toppings including sour cream (not pictured)

Spring onions, fresh green Jalapeno, tomato and avo

It was such a tasty plate of food that packed a delicious flavor punch without being heavy and to aggressively spiced. It just goes to show that you don't have to spend a fortune or hours in the kitchen to make an impressive and incredibly tasty meal for your family and friends.

Here is the recipe for the star of the show, the Incredibly delicious Red Enchilada sauce.

Red Enchilada sauce

Ingredients:

750ml Chicken stock (750ml boiling water and 3 stock cubes)

45ml Flour

45ml Chili powder (as per the recipe above)

5ml ground Cumin

5ml Garlic powder

5ml Onion powder

5ml ground Coriander

5ml smoked Paprika

5ml Oregano

2.5ml Salt

2.5ml Cayenne (add more of you want the dish to be spicy)

30ml Butter

30ml sunflower/canola Oil

60ml Tomato Paste

5ml Cocoa powder (regular unsweetened)

5ml Sugar

2.5ml Cinnamon

5ml Lemon juice or Vinegar

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients together (the pic is before I mixed all the dry ingredients together)

Melt and heat the butter and oil in a pan

Fry the tomato paste in the oil until the oil is red and the tomato paste smells fragrant

Add all the dry ingredients to the pan, it will make a thick paste.

Fry the paste for two minutes stirring constantly

Add half of the hot chicken stock and whisk until there are no lumps then add the rest of the stock.

Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, you will notice that it will darken and thicken, it will thicken even more as it cools.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and please remember to tag me if you make the recipies and post them on social media, these are all my own versions of the recipies and I work long and hard to get them right of our local tastes and availability of ingredients.

Pease, love and good vibes always

Sanet