Enticing Enchildas - Truly Mexican !!!

I have not tasted much of Mexican cuisine. My first experience was when Satyam cinemas introduced nachos and salsa in their counter. After that, here and there in few restaurants like cream center and food courts I have tasted a few dishes. Most of them seem to have lot of layers and looked too complex.

 Recently, I bought a book on Mexican cooking by Nita Mehta. Until then, I thought how much ever tasty Mexican food is, it is too tedious to make at home. But now my perception has totally changed. I have started to enjoy cooking Mexican at home.

 After the Quesadillas, I decided to try enchildas. Like most mexican dishes, the base of this is also tortillas. Traditionally, the tortilla used for enchilda is deep fried but I prefer skillet/tawa cooked tortillas. Whole wheat or corn tortillas are also great for this recipe.

The tortillas are stuffed with chunky vegetables and bean stuffing. These are then rolled and arranged on a baking tray and smothered with tomato sauce and cheese before baking in the oven. This tortilla casserole is a great make ahead recipe to feed a large crowd and they freeze well. Cheese is optional but it definitely adds lot of flavor and texture to the dish.

Ingredients

 serves - 3 to 4

  a.   Tortillas - Homemade tortillas or Store bought

  b.    For the sauce

•  Garlic - 3/4 tsp
• Tomato puree - 1/2  cup readymade
• Fresh tomato - 3 pureed
• Red chilli flakes - 1tsp
• Oregano - 1tsp dried
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Cheese - 1/2 cup grated (mozzarella) 
• Salt

 

c. For the stuffing

• Baked beans - 3/4 cup
• Cottage cheese or paneer - 1 cup (crumbled)
• Capsicum - 1/2 cup finely chopped
• Green onion/ spring onion - 2 tbs plus green stalk finely chopped 1/2 cup
• Garlic - 1 tsp
• Oregano - 1 tsp
• Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp or more depending on your taste
• Oil - 1 tbs
• Salt

For the tomato sauce

1. Heat olive oil and add garlic. Saute.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer till the sauce thickens. (consistency similar to tomato ketchup) Remove from heat and keep it aside.

 

To make the stuffing

1. Heat oil add garlic and saute for few seconds.
2. Add  onion and saute till it looses its raw smell.
3. Add rest of the ingredients and cook till all the juices are absorbed and the mixture is slightly dry. (consistency shouldnt be too runny or semi gravy like. It should be thick)

To assemble

1. Take a tortilla and spread some sauce. Place generous amount of stuffing and roll it tightly.
2. Place the rolled tortilla in a microwave safe casserole.
3. Repeat with rest of the tortillas and arrange them on the casserole.
4. Pour the rest of the sauce over the tortilla and spread it evenly to cover all the tortillas.

 

5. Grate some cheese over it.

6. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes till the cheese melts. Serve hot.

Note
You can experiment with a variety of sauce. Instead of buying enchilda sauce you can even buy salsa. Salsa can later be used for number of mexican dishes unlike enchilda sauce.
Cheese is not mandatory but it gives a nice flavor.
You can add almost anything to your stuffing from corn to mushrooms and even pickled lime. It is a great way to finish off your left overs.
If you don't get baked beans you can pressure cook some rajma or lobia beans.  Mix it with 1/4 cup of tomato ketchup.


Sending it to Bake fest by sizzling tastebuds and zesty palette

  

   comfort food by daily cuppa  and to Bon vivant by sumee