25 July, 2022
Grandma Carol’s Chicken Enchiladas
This is my wife’s favorite recipe. She asks for it from her mother for her birthday most years. It is a cheesy wonderful rich meal. Carol was kind enough to show me the recipe and teach me the way to make it.
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The key ingredient is the chili powder which we get from Lulu‘s Farm in Brighton Colorado. This is also the go-to place for fresh Hatch Green Chilies.
You can make chicken, beef, or cheese enchiladas. This recipe I’m outlining and pictured is chicken. But you can put anything in there. Note the end of this recipe where I call out how to do vegetarian cheesey enchiladas.
Ingredients
Chimayo Chili Powder, 1 cup. I selected the hot powder. Carol often does hot or medium.
4 lb shredded medium cheddar cheese
2 lb Shredded chicken, you can cook just thighs or just breasts. I use the easy button, get two cooked rotisserie chickens and shred them.
1 large white onion chopped into small bit
2 sticks of cinnamon
2 garlic cloves
salt to taste
Small corn tortillas, Carol swears by Candy’s corn tortillas.
https://www.kingsoopers.com/p/candy-s-corn-tortillas/0007520220220
Use Canola oil to cook and white flour.
Directions
First you make your roux. Add a little more than 1/2 cup of canola oil on medium heat. Add up to 1 1/2 cup flour, but start with just a cup. It should be thick like mashed potatoes. Take it to a light peanut butter color. It’s not a white roux and it’s definitely not a dark roux. You want a good light brown which took me about 20 minutes on medium heat. This picture below was about five minutes out from being done. I did not take a picture of when the roux was ready.
Add 1 cup of Chimayo powder to the roux. Smash it in and mix it up quickly. Then add water and stir in before it burna. You want it to be thick but not so thick the bubbles pop thick when boiling. Maybe start with 8 cups. You keep stirring and adding water until it is watery thick if that helps describe. Use a whisk for this stage so the powder breaks up and mixes well. Add the two sticks of cinnamon and two whole garlic cloves.
Keep stirring and adding water addressinf changing thickness for around 30 minutes. You will know it’s done when you can smell the cinnamon coming off of your sauce. Remove cinnamon sticks and keep the garlic clothes in there. At this point you wanna taste it and add salt to taste. In this really big pot I added one and a half tablespoons of salt. I minimize the amount of salt I put in so do as you prefer. Please remember you can always add more water later while you are doing the next steps.
While your sauce is cooking chop your onion into small bits. Get the assembly line ready. The stack of tortillas. A separate pot with one inch deep canola oil on medium heat. The sauce pot. The baking tray. Shredded chicken, onions, and shredded cheese.
Start by frying the tortilla for 5 to 10 seconds and then turning over to fry the other side for same amount of time. It should be hard but not Tosada hard. A little crispy is a good thing because when it bakes it’ll keep its form but be mushy. Let the oil drip off and then drop into the sauce. Flip and get it covered well on each side. Then shake off excess and place on tray overlapping to make layers. If you notice that your sauce has gotten thick, stir in some water it is totally fine.
I buy tin pans and only use extra deep. That way I can make a very tall enchilada. This pan took six tortillas to cover the base. Then you add your shredded chicken making it a nice thin layer but you want the chicken covering the surface. Then a big heaping handful or two of shredded cheese covering it all. Then a half a handful of the onions spread out. Repeat steps and layers until the pan is filled to the top. In this picture I probably should’ve added more cheese.
Here is the process in video form. It was the last step in the process. Again note I should’ve added a more cheese. The trick is adding more cheese than you think.
You can bake the whole pan at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. Or you can cut out squares and microwave it meal by meal. This is a picture of a whole pan baked 20 minutes. I enjoy eating with a dollop of sour cream.
Cheese Enchilada or Vegetarian option: If you are going to do cheese enchiladas you would do it a little different. Do large corn tortillas. Fry and dip same as before but you don’t want to be crispy. Cause you should roll up with cheese inside and just a little bit of onion. Line up on a baking tray and add cheese on top. Bake one layer of rolled cheesy enchiladas.