Flour or Corn! thats the big question when it comes to what to serve Mexican food with. My daughter thinks corn for tacos, flour for enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas. I sort of agree. I think enchiladas are better with corn. Flour in my opinion absorb the sauce and turns soggy, a texture I don’t particularly enjoy in enchiladas. Whatever you choose make this dish, it is super delicious, wholesome and very satisfying. A good enchilada sauce is essential to make this meal awesome, use store bought or a homemade sauce, click here for recipe.
Enchilada casserole is by no means Mexican or may be it is I’m not sure, its one of those dishes that has evolved into an American style home cooked recipe. This meal can easily made vegetarian, simply leave out the chicken and use cauliflower and/or sweet potatoes both work really well. I have made the vegetarian version many times and is just as good. , I made this for my son who asked of the chicken recipe.
Ingredients
SERVES 4 people
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 regular peppers any color or 9-10 sweet mini peppers, sliced
- 1-15 oz can black beans, drained ( I like Trader Joe’s Organic Black Beans)
- 3/4 lbs about 2 cups diced chicken thighs-breast mixed or ground turkey works well too (for vegetarian use diced sweet potatoes and/ or cauliflower)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ medium onion, sliced
- 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 recipe of enchilada sauce (or use store bought)
- 6-7 whole wheat flour or corn tortillas, about x 6-7 inch
- 1-2 cups grated mexican style cheese, (I used Trader Joe’s blend)
- GARNISH: 4 OZ can green chilies or 1 jalepeno sliced, handful of cilantro sliced and sour cream to serve, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Make the Enchilada Sauce or alternatively use good quality store bought. PROTIP: place the sauce in a wide bowl for dipping or it can left in the sauce pan for easy dipping. Set aside.
- For the filling: Saute onion, garlic in the olive oil over medium heat, until tender, about 5 minutes, add the diced chicken or ground turkey and sauté for 5-7 minutes until it’s no longer pink. Add cumin, black beans and salt, sauté uncovered until cooked through and all the moisture and evaporated. Any where from 7-10 minutes set aside.
- Prepare a 9 x13 inch baking dish. Warm the tortillas and dip them in the sauce to completely coat the tortilla in sauce. Place it in the dish onto one side. Repeat with another tortilla to cover the the base of the casserole dish. Add a little extra sauce if it looks dry.
- Now scatter half the filling evenly over the tortilla followed by a third of the cheese.
- Repeat for the second layer. Dip the warmed tortilla in the sauce and layer to cover the the first layer evenly. Followed by scattering the filling evenly and cheese.
- For the last layer dip the tortilla in sauce and layer on top of the second layer. Make sure there’s plenty of sauce covering the last layer. Sprinkle the remaining cheese.
- PROTIP: Let the casserole rest for 10 minutes before placing it in the over.
- Cover with a foil and bake in the preheated over for 20 -25 minutes, the sauce should start bubbling on the edges, uncover and bake for another 5 minutes till cheese is melted and starting to get golden.
- Serve garnished with cilantro, jalapeño slices and avocado slices.
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