My First Enchilada Dish

Overall?  A success.

But…

For me the dish was a tad too tomatoey and not enough vegetables.  My daughter agreed with me on this.  The enchilada sauce was, if anything, a bit too strong and not of chillies either, there weren’t any of them.

I didn’t add enough of the chicken mixture into the enchilada rolls but that was intentional as I am always filling my fajitas too much.  They could have been a bit bigger.

I had also crammed the rolls into the baking dish so the sauce and the cheese didn’t get in between the rolls and to the bottom of the dish which made the base of the rolls dry, tough and crunchy. I think I would add a dollop of the sauce onto the bottom of the baking dish before adding the enchilada rolls. That or not cram them in so tight next time.

I didn’t realise until too late that I used the wrong cheese for the topping.  I had a Dutch Smoked Cheddar which tastes great, but doesn’t grate so well compared to other cheddars.  Again that was my fault as the Dutch Smoked Cheddar was already grated. The cheese didn’t want to stick to the rolls when I was eating them. The cheese also left a slight unpleasant after taste as well.

The recipe I followed was on the back of the ‘Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (Tomato and Capsicum)’ jar.  The sauce was ‘mild’ and I wonder if this was part of the problem of the sauce.  No chillies in the dish or very little. Of course the jar of sauce was a pre made purchased one which is rarely as good as a home-made sauce, most of the time at least.

It is time for me to investigate other enchilada recipes.

My Ingredients

• 2 brown onions finely chopped
• 2 red capsicums finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 500g to 1 kg chicken thigh fillets sliced thinly (I used 700 grams but that was because it was the size of the tray of chicken thighs).
•  I also used 1 packet of ‘Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix Reduced Salt’ sachet. (To me the dish looked like it needed more flavour.)
• Grated Cheddar cheese – about 300 – 500grams.
•  I – 3  packets of ‘Diego’s Flour Tortilla Wraps’. (There are 6 rolls in each packet): I was aiming for 3 rolls each.  Because they were quite thin, I felt 3 weren’t enough.  However they would be enough if the filling was thicker.
• I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes to add to the dish, plus I didn’t have a ‘mixed lettuce salad’ to serve.

Method

I followed the recipe on the back of the ‘Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (Tomato and Capsicum)’ jar but I did marinate the chicken strips with the taco seasoning mix for about 10 or so minutes before adding them into the onion and capsicum mixture.

The recipe from the jar…

Enchilada Mixture.

Heat a little oil in a pan and cook until onion is soft. (I added the diced capsicum and crushed garlic here). Add (marinated) chicken & cook for a further 5 minutes or until browned.  Stir in half of Enchilada sauce (and simmer for 2 minutes.)

Nice and Warm Tortillas.

Warm Tortillas according to packet instructions. (For Diego’s Flour Tortilla Wraps:  place paper towel onto a plate.  Remove the tortillas from the packet, discard freshness sachet, and add another paper towel on top of the tortillas.  Microwave for 45 seconds or until warm.)

Enchilada mixture goes onto of the tortilla.

Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture.

A rolled tortilla

Roll the tortilla into a cylinder.

      

Half way there

Repeat with the remaining tortillas into the baking dish....

All rolled and ready.

...until the dish is full.

enchilada sauce over the top.

Spoon over the remaining enchilada sauce…

add the cheese.

...and the cheese and cherry tomatoes (if you have then)  Place in lightly greased oven proof dish  Bake at 180ºC for 15 -20 minutes or until cheese melts.

ready to eat.

Enjoy served with mixed lettuce (assuming one remembered to buy some).

Another success story.