By request, another recipe adapted from Veganomicon, and the last I’m going to post this year, for reasons of fair use. Mostly what I changed in this recipe was the chilli sauce, which developed quite a different range of chillis based on what I had available. And very tasty it was, too. Also, I couldn’t resist adding grated cheese on top. This is partly because I’m a wimp about chilli, but mostly because I just like cheese. And, as usual, the discursive prose is all mine.
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Sauce olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 large green chilli, seeded and chopped 1 1/2 chipotle chillis in adobo, chopped, and with some of their sauce 1 tbsp red chilli-in-a-tube (or one red chilli, chopped) 1/2 tsp chilli powder 2 tbsp spanish spice mix, or paprika 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp oregano 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes 1 tsp sugar salt Filling 500g waxy potatoes, peeled and diced 1 bunch of kale (about 300g) washed, trimmed and finely chopped olive oil 4-8 cloves garlic 1 tsp cumin 1/4 cup water juice of one lime 1/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) 14 corn tortillas grated cheese (optional)
Now what will you do with it?
Sauté the onions in a large saucepan for 5 minutes or until softened, adding the fresh chilli after two minutes (ie, chop the onions, and get them going while you chop the chillis and get the other sauce ingredients organised). Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, bring to the boil, then remove from heat and blend. Wise people wait for the sauce to cool down before doing this, but I’m a risk taker (and also a klutz), which is why I burn, scald or cut myself in the kitchen at least once a week.
Boil the potatoes until tender, which doesn’t take very long when you dice them first. Drain and set aside. In a wide skillet, cook the garlic and cumin in a little olive oil until you begin to smell the garlic, add the kale, sprinkle with a little salt, and toss the whole lot around to coat the kale with the garlicky cuminy goodness. Incidentally, I love it that my computer now believes garlicky is a proper word. I have trained it well. But I digress. Partially cover the kale to help it steam until wilted – about five minutes. Add the potatoes, water, lime juice and pepitas to the kale and mash roughly – you want to have the potatoes about 2/3 mashed, but with some dice whole for texture/
Now for the messy part. To be honest, I’m usually lazy with tortillas and just roll them around things without all this palaver – they do break a bit more often though, so here is the official and proper way to do it.
Line up a small frying pan on the stove, a pie plate with a ladleful of sauce on the bench next to it, the filling next to that, and a big lasagne or gratin dish with another ladleful of sauce spread across the bottom next to that. Nominate a wet hand and a dry hand, or you are going to be washing your hands in between every enchilada, and you’ll be here all night.
With your dry hand and tongs, put the tortilla in the frying pan on low heat for about 30 seconds, then flip it over and heat it for another thirty seconds. Drop it into the pie plate with the sauce, and turn it over with your wet hand, so it gets briefly coated on each side. Holding the nice, messy tortilla in the palm of your wet hand, put a spoonful of filling in the middle, roll it up and put it in the lasagne dish. The fingertips of your dry hand will not stay wholly dry, it’s true, but at least you won’t end up looking like Lady Macbeth, with bloody, chilli-drenched hands dripping from the wrist. Repeat this process until you’ve used all the tortillas and all the filling – let your enchiladas sit snugly next to each other in the dish so that they don’t get lonely.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the top, cover the dish with foil and bake at 180°C for 25 minutes. Uncover, add the cheese, if using, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes, until the cheese is golden and the edges of the tortillas are a little browned.
Eat, with the help of about five of your friends, because this makes a lot….
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