Monday, June 16, 2008

Chicken Enchiladas, Yum.



This is one of our favorite recipes. As with all the dishes I make on a regular basis--this is more of a loose guideline, than letter of the law. You will basically need the good part of a morning or afternoon to make this. A good pointer is that you can get the whole thing ready, refrigerate it in a casserole dish, and pop it in the oven about 45 minutes before you want to eat.

And yes, I know black beans and rice are not the most Mexican choice for a side dish, but when you are in a country lacking in the Hispanic ingredient department- you do what you can.

Prep Time: 60-90 minutes depending on if chicken is already cooked
Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:
  • 1.5 lbs (about .75 kilo) uncooked boneless chicken breasts OR you can use 1 premade rotisserie chicken and shred the whole thing (should be about 4-5 cups cooked shredded chicken)
  • 2 large onions- chopped
  • 2 small cans green chiles (unless you live in Australia, because I still have yet to find them here)
  • 4 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic- pressed
  • 2 16oz. (about 800ml) cans tomato sauce/ tomato puree (in the U.S. I like Hunts brand)
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 sugar
  • 2 jalapenos - very finely chopped(optional)
  • 6 cups milk or cream or a combination of both (but skim milk alone will not be a good choice, we're looking to cream it up a little)
  • 10 cubes chicken bouillon
  • 24-36 corn tortillas
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (monterey jack, colby, cheddar-- which ever you prefer or a combo)
  • 1 cup salsa
  • Sour cream (optional- as an accompaniment)
Tip:
  • You can make this one of two way- 1) traditional rolled enchiladas baked in a large casserole dish OR 2) Casserole/lasagna style-- this is the quicker version, probably saves at least 10 minutes. The below technique is for individual enchiladas. I will include below the very simple modification to make the faster casserole style dish instead.
Technique:
  1. Saute onion in olive oil until clear, but not brown.
  2. Stir in garlic, tomato sauce, salt, sugar, green chiles, jalapeno, and chicken.
  3. Cover and simmer on low for 5 minutes.
  4. In a large saucepan heat milk & dissolve bouillon cubes in it. Careful to heat on low to avoid scorching milk. Turn off when bouillion is dissolved and set aside.
  5. Heat tortillas (about 10 at a time) in the microwave-- I recommend putting them on a plate with a barely moist papertowel over them for about 30-45 seconds.
  6. (See note below instructions to make faster casserole style). Dip a tortilla in the milk/bouillon mixture, lay tortilla in a 9 x 12 pan, place 1-2 tablespoons chicken mixture in the middle of the tortilla, and roll it up. Place in casserole dish, seam side down, and keep in mind you will be compactly filling the pan to be lined up with enchiladas. Repeat under all chicken mixture/ tortillas are gone.
  7. When pan is full (you may have more than one pan), use a ladle to add additional milk mixture over enchiladas casserole (generously), you should see some milk mixture on all sides of the casserole.
  8. Spread salsa evenly over the top of the enchiladas.
  9. Top with shredded cheese.
  10. Bake at 350 degrees (that's about 180 degrees in Australia) for 25-35 minutes until top is browned and it looks delicious.
  11. Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.
**To make faster casserole style dish: (after completing up to step #5 above)
  1. Dip each tortilla in milk mixture & place in 9 x 12 baking dish (you may have enough to make a 2nd 8 x 8 batch too).
  2. Cover the entire bottom of pan, rip into pieces to hit all spots if necessary. We are going for a lasagna method with this version.
  3. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over tortillas (you will probably have enough to make a 2nd baking pan).
  4. Dip more tortillas in milk mixture and make another fully covering layer over chicken.
  5. Spread a thin layer of salsa over the top.
  6. Top generously with shredded cheese.
  7. Go back to #10 in the original directions.

8 comments:

Natalie Que said...

This sounds so good! I am going to make this. It is different than mine, which is a white / green sauce variety.

Actually, I am loving all of your recipes, so will probably try them all so far {I think I will take your word for it on the popcorn though, I can't wrap my brain around all those flavors. Might need a sample next time I come over}

Thanks for posting the button!

suzinoz said...

This recipe reminds me of all the great food I miss from home...anyone who loves Mexican/Cuban or any type of Hispanic food definitely suffers here in Australia. The ingredients just aren't easy to find. I'm wondering where you found corn tortillas and the black beans for that matter. I don't think I've ever seen them here. I have found green chiles though--at a specialty USA food store here in Melbourne. They are called USA Foods and they've got a great website and online business where you can order their stuff and have it shipped to you in Sydney. Of course you pay a premium for these items because they are "imported" but sometimes you really need that special ingredient to make things taste just right. Here is the link to their website, http://www.usafoods.com.au/index.php
Happy cooking!

traceyleigh said...

mmmm enchiladas! And I never knew you had a foodie blog too. Yay!

You can get the canned green chillies (El Paso brand) at Woolworths/Safeway supermarkets now I have noticed. Also I think they sell them in jars in a different section of the supermarket. Think along the lines of pickled jar stuff.

And I have also realised I can now hound you for what would be a good Aussie adaptation of particular Mexican/Southern American/US foods. Monterey Jack cheese for instance...what would the equivalent for that be here? Any quality deli/wholefood store should sell black beans. I would have thought you could get anything in Sydney. But I guess like anything, you have to know about a store and often that is by word of mouth.

Laura said...

Hey Tracy-
I'm glad you found my food blog, it's been on my sidebar all along, but as you can see I only post here every couple weeks or so.

I always look for green chiles (the mild ones, not jalapenos)-- but I have yet to find them!! I have to look at Woolworths online maybe.

The closest thing to monterey jack cheese here I would say is Colby. But I've only seen it shredded once, so you may have to do that yourself.

So now I'm confused-- are you Australian or American? I put your blog on my Deviously Delicious blogroll a while ago-- did you know? Yours is mainly a food blog right?
Cheers.
-Laura

traceyleigh said...

I am Australian, but love Mexican food and Southern style cooking. It's just hard ingredient wise here as you already know!

Yup, my blog is a food one but I am naughty and don't update as often as I should. I'm making porcupine meatballs tonight and will be posting that though. :-) I would like to be widly adventurous and post glamourous recipies but my DH is not overly keen on the weird and unusual, although I have got him eating lots of Indian and Asian food now. So anyhoo..lots of my recipes are very normal, hearty homemade cooking type of things.

And I am going to try those cookies you recently posted too! Yum.

Laura said...

My husband is the same way-- though he does love Thai, Indian, etc.

But he is really picky (no mushrooms, no tomatoes, the list goes on and on)-- a lot of the "modern Australian cuisine" is far too out there for us. :)

traceyleigh said...

Purely coincidental but today a friend pointed out this site to me and I immediately thought of you...

http://www.montereyfoods.com.au/cart.php

They're based in Sydney it looks. Hope this helps

xxx

traceyleigh said...

lol..yes, my husband has many conditions on food too: no mushrooms, no peas, no broccoli..I'd die if there was a no tomato policy too. I cook with a lot of tomatos!