Enchiladas rojas

Red enchiladas, what a wonderful delight. This is my basic recipe, everybody usually has their own, but this is one I now rely on constantly. Obviously, this might not be a recipe that's too good to try and make in Japan as the chiles are pretty much impossible to get... If you find this sauce is too spicy, just take out some of the chile de arbol and add more chile rojo. Also, use the same pot for all these steps without washing it out after each, to reserve every ounce of flavor. There's really no "right" way to make an enchilada sauce, so feel free to mix it up and get creative. Without further ado, some saucy spicy goodness:



Makes about 2.5 cups of sauce, enough to lightly sauce about 20 enchiladas, or 13~15 nicely sauced enchiladas.

Ingredients:

Onion, 1 medium, diced
Garlic, 4 cloves, chopped
Cooking oil
Dried herbs: Oregano, parsley, basil, cilantro; pinch of each
Black pepper, a few dashes

Dried chiles (all deseeded):



Chile rojo, about 7 medium, seeded (top of picture)
Chile de arbol, about 7 to 10, seeded; less if you don't want too spicy (bottom left of picture)
Chipotle (optional), 2 to 4, adds a subtle smoky flavor (bottom right of picture)

Flour, I use whole wheat but any is okay, about 1 tablespoon
Salt, a few dashes
Shredded cheese, preferably muenster, or any sort of white cheese
CORN tortillas, 10, 15, or 20 depending on sauce amount preference

In a medium pot, heat about 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Once hot, toss in half of the chopped onion (reserve the other half for the cheese later), the garlic, the dried herbs, and the black pepper. Fry on low heat until the onions and garlic become nice and toasty. Place this mixture in the blender, scraping everything out of the pot, but don't wash the pot.

Rinse the deseeded dried chiles to take off the tiny bits of dirt they usually have. You don't have to scrub too hard or anything, just be sure to rinse them off well. Be careful though, if you rinse or scrub too hard, the chiles will lose most of their flavor. Put the rinsed chiles in the same pot you fried the onion in.

Pour about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water in the pot. The chiles shouldn't be fully covered in water, just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan well. Turn up the heat. Once the water boils, turn the heat down and let the chiles boil simmer for about 5 minutes. They are ready when the chiles are soft. Basically, when you take the lid off and your house starts to smell like chile and you cough, they are ready ha ha ha.

Add the now soft chiles into the blender with the onions and garlic. Pour the water from the pot in as well. Blend. If the mixture is too thick, add small amounts of water and keep blending until the mixture is relatively smooth, but not watery. Blend for about 1 minute, until there are no more chunks.

In the same pot, heat up about 2 tablespoons of oil. Once it's hot, sprinkle the flour across the oil. Let this fry for about a minute or two, it'll become bubbly, but be sure not to burn. You can stir if needed. This flour will help the sauce bond better.

Once the flour and oil are toasty, add the sauce from the blender and stir. Lower the heat, and continue to stir. Watch it like a hawk, because the sauce will splatter everywhere as it heats if you don't stir it constantly. If the sauce still seems way too thick, add a bit of water to the blender, blend to get the left over bits of sauce out, and pour this into the pot.

Quick note: The sauce I make tends to be way thicker than anything that comes from a can, so don't try to make this recipe the consistency of that watery sauce you get in those cans, it'll just taste all wrong... In other words, a thick sauce is okay.

Keep stirring the mixture and add the salt, a few dashes should do. Let the sauce boil and cook as you continue to stir constantly for about 1 to 2 minutes. Turn off and set aside.

Assembly line time! First, mix the rest of the chopped onion with the shredded cheese. Now it's time to stack and cheese these beauties. This process is easier with more people, but you can also do it alone if need be.

Heat up the tortillas, either on the open flame of your stove, or on a comal or non-stick pan. When the tortilla is still hot, grab the edge of it with two fingers and dip one side into the sauce until most of it is covered, then flip it to the other side to cover the other side in sauce. Place on plate, sprinkle cheese. Be careful with the heat, I suppose if it's too difficult to do this with your hands, you could use a fork (but I've found that becomes way messier than just using your hands).

Repeat this dipping, sprinkling, and stacking process until you have the amount of tortillas desired on a plate. On the last tortilla, pour a spoon of sauce over the top and spread around to cover any non covered bits of tortillas, then add the final sprinkle of cheese.

A side of guacamole, beans, and rice go wonderfully with this dish. You can also plop sour cream on them if they are too spicy to tone them down a bit while still keeping them delicious. Enjoy the hell out of these enchiladas!