Mexican food isn’t something that I have widely explored unless we’re talking avocados, guacamole and salsa! Here in the UK I’ve definitely noticed a bigger trend to make Mexican food readily available but it’s still a relatively small market. The few times I have eaten at a Mexican restaurant, the experience for me personally has not been amazing, which is probably why I haven’t ventured into cooking many Mexican dishes…..until now! An Enchilada is a popular Mexican dish which consists of a tortilla, most often a corn tortilla, wrapped around a meat/cheese filling with sauce and topped with cheese and other various toppings. The very first time I cooked this dish I was experimenting in the kitchen (as one does) and prepared the enchiladas using one of my freezer staples, Quorn. The results were good and my family really enjoyed it, suggesting I should try using ‘proper chicken’ the next time I made it. So I did. The results were even better with real chicken! I tweaked the recipe again and finally think I have now perfected it to my liking. This recipe has become one of our favourites and is a treat because of the different stages involved in cooking this dish, but honestly the results are so worth it!

While I do try to keep the gist of an authentic recipe, I find I adapt recipes to suit my family and the ingredients I have readily available at home. In this instance I have used flour tortillas instead of corn ones, as I normally have these to hand. You can of course use corn tortillas should you prefer; it’s recommended you lightly fry them in oil to bring out the flavour in the dish. If you are vegetarian use Quorn, the results are equally as tasty and if you want you can substitute the corn for something else. There are several stages to prepare this dish so I would recommend making it on a day when you have time to put it all together. You can speed up the process by using a pressure cooker like I have done, if you don’t own a pressure cooker, no problem, just allow yourself more time to cook the chicken in a standard pot. If you wanted to prepare the different components of this dish ahead of time, you could do so a day beforehand and put together the dish on the day your guests arrive. The night I cooked this for dinner I was out of sour cream and had already planned this meal for dinner and didn’t want to change plans, so I made a quick home made sour cream using double cream and vinegar instead; just buy sour cream if you want one less job to do, DON’T use both! I will show you how to make a really easy sour cream substitute which will come in handy for other recipes in the future too. Please don’t be put off of this recipe because of all the spices added at the different stages, they are needed to add flavour, it’s the difference between a good Enchilada recipe and an excellent one. I hope you all find this recipe as tasty and as fulfilling as we do!

Serves – 6

You will need: for Chicken Enchilada

For precooking chicken:
700g chicken breasts (washed and drained)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric

For making sour cream: (skip this part if you have already purchased sour cream)
1/2 pot double cream
1.5 tsp vinegar/lemon juice

For the filling:
oil (as required)
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
1 can of sweetcorn
1 bell pepper
2 pointed sweet peppers (these are actually somewhat spicy, not sure why they’re called that)
2 tsp Bolsts curry powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp paprika
3/4 cup tomato passata
splash of water (if needed)

For passata sauce:
1/2 cup tomato passata
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder

For layering enchiladas:
8 – 10 tortillas
grated cheese (approx 150g or to your taste)

Method:

Pictured above I have separated the different spices I’ll be using for each stage of the recipe (note there are 3 sets of spices). On the bottom left we have spices for the passata sauce, on the right we have the spices for the actual filling. It’s a good idea to measure and have these ready to save time. In the next photo you’ll see the spices needed for precooking the chicken.

Start by cooking the washed chicken in a pot with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder and 1/2 tsp turmeric. I’ve placed my chicken in a pressure cooker to do this quickly; there is no need to cut the chicken into smaller pieces unless you want to speed up the process as we will be shredding this by hand once cooked. Allow to cook for 15 minutes in a pressure cooker (or about 25 minutes in a normal pot). Prepare you other ingredients while this cooks.

Pour 1/2 pot of double cream into a clean bowl and add 1.5 tsp of white vinegar or 1.5 tsp of lemon juice (both work well). I used a whole pot of double cream as I regularly use sour cream in my cooking/dishes and added 1 tbsp of vinegar. Whisk the double cream till the cream holds soft peaks.

In another small bowl add 1/2 cup of passata, along with 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cumin powder and 1 tsp coriander powder. Mix everything together, taste to test seasoning and adjust if necessary. Reserve to one side for use later.

By now your chicken pieces should be cooked, don’t worry if there is a lot of juice in the pan as this will be used later in the dish.

Remove the chicken pieces using a slotted spoon and allow to cool. Reserve the chicken stock/juices for adding later DON’T throw away!

Cut 1 large onion and crush 3 cloves of garlic.

In a medium – large pan add a good measure of oil, I usually add about 2 – 3mm covering the base of my pan.

Once the oil is hot add the onions, garlic and 1 tsp salt. Cover the pan and allow to cook over a medium – high flame till the onions are transparent, about 4 – 6 mins.

While the onions cook, chop your bell pepper and slice your pointed sweet peppers.

When the onions are transparent add 2 tsp Bolsts curry powder, 1 tsp cumin powder and 1 tsp paprika. Add 3/4 cup of passata (in the photo I have already added 1/4 cup which you can see below the wooden spoon and am adding 1/2 a cup more). Pour in the juices reserved from the chicken we cooked earlier.

Give the sauce a good mix and allow to simmer very gently over a low flame while you shred the chicken.

Shred the now cooled chicken pieces by hand and discard any bones. Add the shredded chicken to the simmering sauce along with 1 drained can of sweetcorn….

….the chopped bell pepper and sliced pointed sweet peppers. Give the ingredients a good mix and add a splash of water if it appears very dry; I added about 1/4 of a cup just to loosen the mixture slightly.

Cover and simmer over a medium flame for about 5 – 8 mins just to allow the flavours to fully meld with one another. Once the filling is cooked you can begin to fill the tortillas and layer the ingredients, there is no need to allow the filling to cool. If you wanted to prepare the different components of this dish ahead of time, you could do so a day beforehand and put together the dish on the day your guests arrive.

Choose a large flat baking dish which is wide enough (or thereabouts) to fit the width of your tortillas (left middle photo).

Place some of the filling into a tortilla and roll up and push to one side of the dish (top right photo). One enchilada rolled, seven (or) more to go!

Continue doing this for as many tortillas as you can squeeze into the dish, be generous with the filling as this is what adds flavour. I used up as much as I could but did have some extra filling…..which made very tasty chicken tortilla wraps for tea the next day!

Now spread the passata sauce seasoned earlier over the tops of the rolled enchiladas. Dot generous dollops of your sour cream on the top of this.

Lastly add grated cheese to the top of your enchiladas. I don’t normally measure this part, I tend to eyeball the amount and cover with as much cheese as I like; 150g is a rough estimate, use more/less depending on how much melted cheese you like and whether you are using a bigger dish.

Bake this in the oven for about 15 – 20 minutes and finish off under the grill to get a really brown top (avoid baking for too long as it dries out the enchiladas).

Serve your enchiladas with sides of your choice, ours were skewered vegetables, coleslaw, olives and beetroot……you’ll be lucky if there is any left for seconds the following day!

Bon Appetit!!

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