Last night I was on a Mexican Safari. I really felt I had to blog about this as I love mexican food. And my favorite dish of all time are Enchiladas. It's alway been my favorite since I was a little kid.
As I grew up in the states Mexican food has always been easy to come by. You could get everything you needed from your local food store. Everything from Corn tortillas to the Enchilada sauce in a can etc.
I'm sorry to say this but it's one thing that Australia is lacking in, mexican produce. Sauces that are ready made for you to cook all your favorite mexican dishes and tortillas to wrap them in. Beside Ol El Paso the pickings are slim and not very authentic.
I thought to myself is this a really bad thing? I'm like, how hard can it be to make the sauce and tortillas. And wont it be better from me because it will be made from scratch? Turns out it wasn't that hard and I'm so glad I went on the journey to make my favorite dish because now I know how to make it all the time!
How I did it.
I started with the crock pot. In went my beef roast with water onion, cumin, fresh oregano and salt. I cooked it for hours until the roast just melted apart. Then I pulled it all apart in a bowl spooning all the onion and oregano through it, adding salt to taste and more cumin. Don't over do it on the cumin because the sauce will flavor it too.
Next came the sauce. I used the recipe below but I have to say it was more of a guide then a step by step follow the recipe. I needed more sauce then it said so I was just adding the ingredients as I saw fit and tasted until I thought it was right. But this "guide" was good.
Enchilada Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 clove garlic, minced
1 onion chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
pepper and salt to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 table spoons pre made salsa
1 jar of passata ( 700 g)
Put oil in a pot and saute onion and garlic. Then add your oregano, basil, cumin, chili powder, salsa, cumin and passata. Let it simmer away on a low heat and add salt and pepper to taste.
Next came the corn tortillas which are super easy. It's just about finding the right flour. You have to use a kind that is treated with Lime calcium and it's usually called Masa Hirana. I found the flour at this pokey old store called Ralph's Delicatessens in Balmain. They have so many great "you could never find this in woolies" kinda stuff. The recipe I used is below. It's so easy it's not even funny.
Corn Tortillas
2 cups corn flour
water - enough that when you mixed the flour and water together and pick up a clump it doesn't stick to your fingers. I find it a little give and take with this process.
salt to taste
Now you have to make a small ball out of the dough, then place it between 2 sheets of baking paper. I then flattened my ball with the base of a plate and then rolled over it until it was as thin as I could get it without breaking. It then peels of the baking paper pretty easy. You then just fry it in a pan with some oil or butter or nothing if that takes your fancy.
Now for the assembly of it all!
Put the beef in the tortilla then roll it up and place it in a casserole dish and line them all up neatly. Then place the sauce over the top/middle part of the rolled tortillas. Then sprinkle with cheese. I used a bit of grated Mozzarella and cheddar.
Then just bake them in the oven until the cheese is golden.
Voila! Really yummy Enchiladas!
I was tasting my childhood last night and it was good!
