Recipe - Enchiladas From Scratch

ENCHILLADA SAUCE
12 Dried red peppers (pasilla
or new mexico; not those
small thai; japanese or
indian ones)
1 teaspoon Salt
2 cup Water
2 tablespoon Oil
1 tablespoon Flour

CORN TORTILLAS
2 cup Quaker oats masa harina mix
[corn and lime; available
in many supermarkets]
1 One half cup Warm water
1 teaspoon Salt

TO MAKE ENCHILLADAS
Finely chopped onion;
Grated cheese [i use
monterey jack]

From: Jonathan Kandell jkandell@Violet.CCIT.Arizona.edu

Date: Tue, 22 Mar 1994 22:05:01 GMT
Made this last night and it was really good. Basic recipe from La Posta
cookbook, from La Mesilla New Mexico, elaborated and altered by me. This
makes what's known as "New Mexico" style enchilladas.

ENCHILLADA SAUCE: Take the dried peppers and rinse them of dirt. Roast
them in a dry wok, turning frequently, over lowmed till they smell
roasted. Don't burn the skin too much. Break off the stems and dump out the
seeds. Put in a covered pan with 2c water. Bring to boil then cook over
low, covered, for about 10 minutes. Then pour peppers and its water into
blender and liquify. Add salt to taste.

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a frying pan, add 1T flour and cook stirring frequently,
till flour starts to brown. Pour in pepper mixture and mix. Add water if
necessary to thin.

[Note: This is a very minimal sauce, without cumin or oregano. I find when
you're making from scratch minimal is the way to go to bring out the
flavors.]

CORN TORTILLAS: Add salt to dry masa harina. Mix masa with 11/3 to 11/2
cp warm water . Mix in well and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Form into
golf ball sized balls.

Heat up a cast iron griddle over lowmed heat, ungreased.

Put each ball of masa between two pieces of wax paper and press down flat
with a flatbottomed pan or bowl (or tortilla press if you want to spend
the money). You won't get it as thin as store bought tortillas, but you
want them a little thick. They taste better that way! Pull off the wax
paper off one side. Flip tortilla onto the curled fingers of your other
hand (so that remaining wax paper is now face up), then very carefully peel
off other wax paper. This might take some practise. If one corner doesn't
work, start at the other. (If dough repeatedly sticks, you've used too much
water. If dough repeatedly falls apart, you haven't used enough water.)

Cook each tortilla on the griddle, first on one side , then the other.
Don't let them get crispy.

TO MAKE ENCHILLADAS: Most recipes say you first fry the tortillas for a few
seconds in hot oil then drain before going on to the next step. You can
skip this step without much loss in flavor if you use homemade tortillas.
Experiment.

Dip a tortilla in enchillada sauce. Put it down in a lasagne pan. Sprinkle
grated cheese and onion on it. Put another tortilla that has been dipped
in sauce over the top and repeat to two or three layers thick.

At the end pour remaining sauce over top with remaining cheese and onions.

Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes. Hmmmm. Comments welcome.

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