Enchiladas

Directions

1. To prepare the sauce, clean and finely chop onion, garlic, and pepper. Set aside.

2. Sauté onions in medium saucepan until clear. Add garlic and peppers and sauté 2 more minutes.

3. Add flour to the saucepan and cook – stirring constantly for 2 more minutes (add a bit more oil if necessary to keep mixture from burning).

4. Add water and chili powder to the saucepan. Simmer uncovered (stirring occasionally) until sauce thickens - 20 to 30 minutes. 

5. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add spicy chili powder to taste. Set sauce aside.

6. Preheat the oven to medium.

7. Rinse and trim chicken (remove bones, skin and excess fat). Chop chicken into small cubes or strips.

8. Heat a bit of oil in a skillet and cook the chicken over a medium flame. Cook 5-8 minutes, or until cooked through and golden on the outside. Set aside.

9. Prepare corn tortillas* (or use store bought if you can find them).

10. Grate cheese and set aside.

11. To assemble the enchiladas, spread a thin layer of sauce over 1 tortilla, put 2 – 3 Tbs of meat, plus cheese in a line down the center of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla around the filling.

12. Place the enchilada in a greased baking dish. Continue until all the chicken filling is used (reserve at least half the sauce and some of the cheese).

13. Cover enchiladas with remaining sauce and then sprinkle with remaining cheese. 

5. Cover pan with foil and place in preheated oven. Cook 20 to 30 minutes until heated through. Uncover for the last 5 to 10 minutes to brown cheese, if desired.

                                                              

Notes: This is a highly personal dish. Please feel free to use store-bought sauce and add spices to taste.  It does not matter if you use corn or flour tortillas - although, technically if you use flour tortilla you are making a burrito. Who cares? It’s all tasty.

 

Variations: Tasty toppings for this dish (if you can find them) include sour cream, fresh cilantro, diced tomato and diced avocado. You can also vary the meat filling, beef and pork work well.