Our favorite enchiladas recipe
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 6 cups water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- -- toppings --
- -- filling --
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
- -- red sauce --
- 2 ounces pablano peppers dried, or fresh (about 3-4 peppers)
- 1 ounce jalapeno peppers dried, or fresh (about 6 peppers)
- 1 tablespoon salt i prefer sea salt
- 1 tablespoon mexican oregano other oreganos can be used but changes the flavor some
- 10 tablespoons cold water
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro washed and cleaned
- 2 cloves garlic i usually use 3
- 2 pounds chuck steak or tri tip cubed into 1/2 in. pieces.
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 generous teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon mexican oregano
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin i usually put a little extra
- 1 package corn tortillas i prefer the yellow corn
- 1 package monterey jack mexican cheese blend
- Carbohydrate 32.9769820874661 g
- Cholesterol 30.26 mg
- Fat 13.9662688403756 g
- Fiber 6.65480608350477 g
- Protein 13.1234785212614 g
- Saturated Fat 7.0702374201129 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (521g)
- Sodium 446.303543505069 mg
- Sugar 26.3221760039613 g
- Trans Fat 0.785470872016131 g
- Calories 295 calories
Step-by-step
- First prepare the peppers by removing the stems and cutting into small pieces, remove the seeds as per your personal tastes for heat. Heat these for about 30-40 seconds.
- Combine the garlic cloves, onion, cilantro, mexican oregano, salt, and warmed peppers together in a food processor. Blend for about 2 minutes until it is a paste with the consistency of marinara sauce.
- Fill a pot with the 6 cups of water. Add the tomato sauce, and the blended spice mixture to the water and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
- Removed from heat and strain through a wire strainer into a bowl. Rinse out the pot and put the sauce back in the pot and return to heat low heat.
- Mix the 10 tbsp. cold water with the 1 tbsp corn startch.
- Pour the corn startch mixture into the sauce and stir over low heat till thickened.
- While the sauce is cooking for its 1 1/2 hours. Place the cubed meat and onion into a large freezer bag.
- I like to grind all my spices together. Combine the salt, pepper, ground cumin, onion powder, mexican oregano, and garlic powder together into stone spice grinder and grind into a fine powder.
- Add the 3 tbsp of olive oil to the cubed meat and onions in the freeze bag and then pour in your ground spices.
- Seal the bag and kneed the meat thourghly to distribute the flavors of the spices and let sit for about 30 minutes.
- Over high heat throughly cook the meat and onion mixture. I like to cook it till the meat starts getting a little crispy.
- Removed from heat and place filling inside the corn tortillas. Roll and arrange in a cassorole pan. Set aside till the sauce is done.
- Once the sauce is ready pour over your encilades in the cassorole pan, making sure to cover them all.
- Place in 375 degree oven for about 15 - 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and place Monterey Jack cheese blend on top of the cooking enchilades and return to oven for another 10 - 15 minutes or so or until cheese is melted and has a slightly crispy appearance.
- Remove from oven and serve. Garnish with a side of guacamole, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo and a dollop of sour cream.
Why does homemade red sauce require a long simmer followed by straining? Building depth in Mexican red sauce depends entirely on extracting flavor from dried peppers through prolonged heat and removing fibrous remnants with a wire strainer. Simmering the blended pepper, tomato, and spice mixture for ninety minutes breaks down cell walls completely, yielding a smooth base rather than a gritty puree.
Equally critical is the preparation of the meat filling. Marinating cubed chuck steak with oil and freshly ground spices inside a sealed bag for thirty minutes allows salt to penetrate the muscle fibers before cooking. Searing that meat over high heat until the edges develop a slight crispness provides essential textural contrast against the soft corn tortillas.
Thickening the strained red sauce with a cornstarch slurry over low heat ensures it clings properly to the rolled tortillas during baking. Baking the assembly at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for fifteen minutes before adding cheese prevents the tortillas from becoming soggy before the structural proteins in the dairy melt.
Substitutions alter the final profile significantly. Mexican oregano possesses a distinct earthy pungency that Mediterranean varieties simply cannot replicate.
