The first time you sit down at a restaurant in Santa Fe you get the question: red, green, or Christmas style (red and green). There’s no wrong answer, because they’re bringing you the best enchiladas you’ll ever have.
I’ve been trying to reproduce that ever since.
The original recipe for this was actually from Budget Bytes, but I’ve changed this so much, with fragments from multiple cookbook’s and a friend’s handwritten notes, that I’m going to go ahead and share my version.
The Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 small red or yellow pepper
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoon masa harina
- 2 cups of chicken broth (or roasted veggie broth)
- 3oz. tomato paste (no more! Get a tube, not a can.)
- Cumin
- New Mexican Hatch Red Chili Powder
- Every kind of paprika (smoked, spicy)
- Chipotle powder for spiciness (or cayenne)
- Some chili powder, because technically that’s where this recipe came from
- Salt
You can (and technically should) use spicy peppers in this, but I’ve had better luck chopping non-spicy or less spicy peppers and added dry chipotle/cayenne to taste.
You also don’t need Hatch Chili powder per se (although its very good). What makes this work is combining a few different kinds of chili rather than generic grocery store “chili powder” (which is sweet). Any combination of ancho, paprika, or whatever you have easy access to is probably going to work.
Steps
- Dice the onion, pepper, garlic as small as possible. Add to pot with half the oil and cook most of the way.
- Add masa and remaining oil, stir until it forms a paste with the onion
- Season the shit out of it. Stir.
- Add or broth slowly, control for thickness
- The sauce should be very red. If it’s not, it needs more spices.
- Add everything else to a saucepan and whisk
- Simmer for at least 20m until. You want it to reduce enough that when you pour it over the dish its a sauce rather than a puddle.
To help thicken, create a thick slurry of masa harina (corn flour for making tortilla dough) and stir it into the sauce. Don’t overdo it.
The Enchiladas
Ingredients
- 6-8 flour or corn tortillas
- 1 can refried beans
- 1 can black beans
- Dark Red Kidney beans work too. For a larger batch, use both.
- About 60g Pepper Jack or Mexican style cheese, shredded
- Vegetable fillings
- Scallions, chopped
- Fire roasted red pepper (optional, comes in a jar)
- Fire roasted corn (frozen)
- Fresh Cilantro
- Avocado (optional)
Instructions
- Set oven 350°F
- Warm the tortillas in the oven for 90 seconds. You can do this in a skillet but I’m trying not to use more oil.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together all the beans, chopped scallions, peppers, and any other filling vegetables that call to you today.
- Take a casserole dish and cover the bottom with a thin layer of sauce, just to keep it from sticking.
- Alternatively: use a big baking sheet, and set them up in pairs directly on the metal. The space between keeps it from trapping steam and allows the tortillas to crisp. This idea comes from a Rick Bayless video that I can’t find anymore—apparently that’s how his restaurants do it.
- We can call this the the spaced-out method, as opposed to the casserole method.
- Fill each tortilla with the a spoonful of the bean and vegetable mixture. It should but full but not overstuffed. Line them up.
- Pour the sauce over the enchiladas.
- Sprinkle top with lot’s of cheese. 9-10g per enchilada is usually about right.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. It’s done when the sauce is thick and bubbly, and the tortillas have started to brown a little on the edges.
- In the last 5 minutes, switch to convection bake and boost the heat to 375°F or switch to the broiler. You’re aiming to brown the cheese slightly.
Top with Avocado, cilantro.
Serve on their own, or with roasted plaintains, or yellow rice, or corn on the cob.