Sunday, January 6, 2008

Enchiladas

Jeff has been asking for enchiladas for a long time. On one of our last trips to the grocery he picked out a jar of enchilada sauce, followed closely by everything else we would need for enchiladas. He was tired of waiting.

I don't even remember the last time I had enchiladas, if ever, so I hadn't seen any reason to rush. You can't miss something you've never had. As of last night that has all changed, because these were good in a serious way.


For the filling I chopped and sauteed an onion, then added a package of Morning Star Farms Chik'n Strips that I had pulled into shreds. When they had started to brown I added crushed black olives and a little sea salt. Then I transferred the filling to a bowl and added some soy cheese and enough enchilada sauce to help everything stick together.

It's traditional to dip corn tortillas in hot oil (or lard) before filling them, but I sprayed them on both sides with a little cooking oil and heated them in a nonstick skillet. While the second tortilla was heating I spooned some of the filling onto my first tortilla, rolled it up tightly, placed it in a baking dish into which I had already added a thin layer of enchilada sauce, and continued with more tortillas until I had used all the filling. I had enough for eleven tortillas.

Naked enchiladas.
After pouring the rest of the sauce over the filled tortillas and covering them in soy cheese and more black olives, they went in the oven at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes.

Clothed in their Sunday best.

I served them with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, tofu sour cream, and cilantro. For the tofu sour cream I just blend some silken tofu with a little lemon juice (or vinegar), and salt. It's pretty runny at first, but sets up in the fridge. While not delicious by itself, it's great on the enchiladas (or tacos etc.) as a cold and creamy counterpoint to the spicy sauce.

Now that I have known enchilada bliss, I'm excited to try again with different homemade sauces and vegetable fillings. However, these were so good that I will definitely be happy to fix them this way again.

10 comments:

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

these look great naked and dressed. WOW! i really, really want a plate of these. thanks for reminding me how much i love enchiladas.

nolajazz said...

I would like to say two things: first, though I think I would miss meat and I'm still not sold on tofu products, you convince me so well with this stuff! Second, nice bunny -themed plate in the first picture :)

Jenny Wren said...

Lori- You're welcome. They were so good, you can expect to see more enchilada posts!

Jazz- I missed meat too...at first. It just takes a period of transition. But even if I did still eat meat, I have come to love tofu, and would eat it all the time no matter what. And yeah, I love the bunny plate!

On a fools hope said...

I love enchiladas, my mom made em constantly when I was growin' up and it was my grandparents x-mas dinner tradition. My Grandmas sauce is the best. I havn't made them in ages, makes me hungry... that doesn't take much these days though...

Anonymous said...

Bunny plates are precious.

Have you tried Melissa's Soyrizo? It is a Mexican (meatless) sausage. Soooo good in mexi dishes to substitute for meat. I can eat the whole thing by myself. And they give you a lot in the package.

I like your blog. Makes me hungry. And gives me great ideas.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

such gorgeous enchiladas!

terri said...

Jenny Wren,
Your photos are amazing. I am back to work so sitting at my computer at home is the last thing I want to do... but I will still try to check in at least once a week. Ian is considering giving up meat because he is lacking in funds and cooking space/tools at school. If you have some one pot wonders high in vitamins that a busy college student could use... he likes ethnic and is not afaird of spicy

Jenny Wren said...

Mags-do you happen to have grandma's recipe to share?

Mykelle-Thanks for checking out my blog! I haven't tried soyrizo, but it sounds tasty.

veggiegirl-Thank you!

Terri- Thanks! Ethnic, spicy, one dish, vitamins...done! Well, not yet, but I'll get back to you.

Cakespy said...

OK, I just came across those naked enchiladas and must say they are sexxxy.

Claudia Davila (Fran) said...

What a great blog! Your enchiladas look incredible. They remind me of spicy sweet potato burritos with kidney beans I like to make... mmm, should make them soon!