Recipe of the week 15 May 2012 ……Chicken Enchiladas

This is such a tasty, quick, easy and impressive little Mexican dish, there are any different ways of doing and a you can use anything to stuff them with and cover them, but this is one that I like to do as it suits most palates.

Serves 4-6

Difficulty easy

Cooking Time 1 hour

Prep Time 30 Minutes

Enchiladas Ingredients

1kg Chicken Breast Fillet

250g Cheddar cheese

30g chopped coriander

2 large onions finely sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 chopped jalapeno’s (optional)

1 packet corn Tortilla’s (mexicorn brand at Spar are great)

Enchiladas Sauce Ingredients

15g crushed garlic

2 onions roughly chopped

15g fresh oregano chopped

30g chopped coriander

2 tins whole peeled tomatoes

300ml fresh cream

1 TBSP brown sugar (or white, personal choice)

Salt and peppers to taste

2 TBSP crushed Chilli (optional)

1 TBSP ground Cumin (optional)

250g cheddar cheese

Guacamole Ingredients

1 Ripe Avocado Peeled

2 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP Tabasco sauce

Small handful chopped coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Salsa Ingredients

2 Tomatoes seeded and finely cubed

1 cucumber finely cubed

1 small onion finely diced

1 tin whole kernel corn (don’t use creamed corn, not nice in salsa)

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of vinegar

10 mint leaves finely chopped

Small handful chopped coriander

Method

Start with the sauce by sautéing the onions in a little olive oil until they are translucent, then add in all the other ingredients except the cream and cheese, and let this simmer for about 45 minutes then add in the cream and leave to simmer for a further 15 minutes, then blitz it up in a food processor or with a stick blender.

Now for the chicken, boil it in some salted water for about 25 minutes until cooked all the way through, then strain it and shred it up with 2 forks, leave to cool slightly then mix it together with the rest of the ingredients, except the tortilla’s

Now take the chicken filling and divide the mixture into 8 equal parts, spoon the mixture onto the tortillas and roll it up nice and tight.

Place the tortillas into a baking tray, pack them nice and tight next to each other, then spoon over all of the enchiladas sauce, sprinkle with the left over cheese and bake at 180˚c for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and has started going crispy.

To make the salsa, mix all the ingredients together, same for the guacamole.

Now to serve, lay down some shredded lettuce, cos lettuce or baby gem lettuce works best here, dish out 2 enchiladas on  top of the lettuce and garnish with some sour cream, guacamole and salsa and serve nice and hot.

 There are many different variations that you can make with this dish from different fillings and sauce, if you would like some ideas feel free to contact me via my facebook page The Hungry Chef, this blog or come and visit me at St Francis Links Kitchen.

Bon Apetit