How To Make Flat Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce - Tex- Mex Goodness Recipe
Moving to Panama makes me really miss one thing I love...Tex Mex food. Panamanian food and Tex Mex food are not the same thing, so if I want some Tex Mex, it's up to me to make it! One thing I haven't found around here in enchilada sauce, so I had to figure out a way to make my own (and now I actually prefer this recipe to canned sauce)!!
To start, I put a little oil in the bottom of the glass pan (8x8 or so is what I usually use for our family of 7). I then put a layer of corn tortillas in the bottom. I like this method better than rolling the tortillas up and stuffing them. It ends up tasting pretty yummy and uniform. Then I put a layer of cooked meat and beans.
At the same time, I am working on the enchilada sauce. It's pretty easy to make actually and comes together pretty quickly! It has great flavor as well!! Here is the recipe for it:
Enchilada Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon ground chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon salt
Pinch of cinnamon (optional but recommended)
small can of tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Measure all the dry ingredients and put them in a small bowl near the stove. Also have the tomato sauce and broth ready near the stove.
Heat the oil in a medium sized pot over medium heat. Sprinkle a little bit of the flour mixture onto the oil, and if it sizzles on contact, the oil is hot enough. Don't step away or it could catch on fire!
Once the oil is hot enough, add the flour mixture and whisk to keep it from clumping. It will take about a minute for it to be mixed thoroughly and be smooth. Next whisk in the tomato sauce, and follow with the broth while constantly whisking. This will keep clumps from forming.
Allow the sauce to simmer for about 5 minutes, but continue to whisk it often. The sauce will thicken somewhat, but you can also add a little flour to make it thicker. It will also thicken as it cools.
Take off the stove and whisk in the vinegar. Season with pepper and salt if necessary. Add to the enchilada platter.
After the tortillas and meat and beans have been added to the dish, I add a layer of enchilada sauce. I continue this layering method until most of the sauce is used up (4 layers or so).
The top layer, I do a layer of tortillas and then put some enchilada sauce on top. I cover it with shredded cheddar cheese and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or so. Since all of the other ingredients are already warm, you really just need to get the cheese melted! It's so yummy. I hope you'll try it and let me know what you think!
Recipe tweaked from cookie and kate
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We just tried your sauce, because we didn't have enough canned sauce left. @enchantedspirit modified it a little, but it's still basically your recipe. And it is deeeeeeelicious. As you said, way better than the canned sauce. And cheap, about $1 for 2 cans worth at $3 a can.
Thank you for the perfectly timed post.
Hasty banana or whatever she said.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Really nice! I'm glad you tried it and liked it! I've found that it's pretty handy and really quick to throw together. And I like it because I have all the ingredients on hand!
FOR TSE: Ok. Now you've done it. You've made me hungry for enchiladas tonight -- instead of the fried chicken strips or pork tenderloin that were our other choices.
I've got the ground beef ... and the beans ... and the tortillas. What I don't have is enough enchilada sauce -- again. (For some reason we can't seem to keep this stuff around. We run out of it constantly. ) Soooo ... I'm going to try this recipe you included. Maybe you've solved a chronic problem.
As I said to The Weasel ... All we can do is try it. If it's crap, we don't do it again.
I may doctor it a bit. I don't see any cayenne, for instance. (With kids, you may try to avoid that. Here ... no way.)
I'll let you know how it goes.
Hasta manana.
Thanks for trying it out! I'm glad you guys liked it and it sounds like you added some good ingredients. I have a few kids that prefer a less spicy version of everything, but they all like this. The chili powder (and cinnamon) don't leave much flavor, but still enough. I made it incorrectly once and it was super thick (like half the amount of broth) and added way more cinnamon than it called for and it was a bit on the cinnamon side, but still good.
Forget manana ... I'm back already. I made your recipe w/ a few differences. First I doubled the recipe. Then I added:
1 t. onion powder
1 T. New Mexico red chili powder (in addition to the regular chili powder)
1/2 t. cayenne
1/4 t. cinnamon (instead of "a pinch")
1/2 t. black pepper
I omitted:
the extra salt
the vinegar
THIS STUFF IS TERRIFIC!!! No kidding. I have bought my last can of enchilada sauce. ***** FIVE STARS.
Super glad that you liked it! I'm really happy to have found the recipe and given it a try. I'm just happy I have all the ingredients and it comes together quickly. I don't do stuff that takes a long time. We haven't had enchiladas this week. May have to add it to the schedule. ;) I usually omit the vinegar as well. I think it's to keep it from seizing up after it sits for a bit. It doesn't change the flavor at all.
Made your enchilada sauce again tonight. Then made enchiladas w/ shredded pot-roast and refried beans, topped with cheese, sour cream & salsa. OMG, OMG, OMG!!! Even the dogs were crazy for it.
I used the vinegar this time just for comparison. You're right, it doesn't alter the taste. We'll see what it does to the consistency. I used the sauce from the previous batch (I froze it for a while) to cook the roast. Mah-vel-ous!!! <3
yay! No more canned enchilada sauce.
When I run out sometimes, I just use tomato sauce and add powdered chili to it. It really is hard to get enchilada sauce wrong. (or maybe im just a magical cook. lol)
@metzli visitng from steemitmamas.
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This looks really good! I always prefer homemade over canned foods! You can never go wrong making it yourself! I’m glad you found something that works for you!
Homemade usually is better, I agree! I'm not the best cook, so when I find something I can do that works and everyone likes it, I stick to it! I'm glad I found and tweaked this recipe. :)
I already miss you!!!
<3
Hope you are getting lots done
The wife and girls will get a copy of this posted recipe from me, love home made Tex Mex.
Man, in Houston, I can't stand that all of the hot sauce they serve at Tex Mex restaurants is temperature hot! But I'd go for even temperature warm (free) sauce around here. You pay $2.50 for a tiny bowl and 12 chips at our local Mexican restaurant. Another thing is that they call it all "gravy" on the menu. Man, that's so nasty sounding! But I do miss Tex Mex. Terribly. Glad to be able to share the recipe. Hope you like it!
I could almost live on chips and salsa. I have one place I just love the chips and salsa and if you go in and just have the chips and salsa it is about 2.89 for that, if you order food it is free, so I always just go in and order two tacos for lunch with water, the whole thing ends up costing me $3.46 with tax and I leave a buck for a tip. So for less than $5.00 I have all the chips and salsa I want, plus two pork or fajita beef tacos for lunch. They don't even bother to ask me what I want they just rotate the choice of meat for me at their discretion, and if it is a new waitress, I tell her two tacos on flour, when she asks what meat? I just tell her to surprise me.
I am going to get the wife to make me some of your recipe as soon as I can.
Oh man, that sounds so delicious and what a great deal!! You're making me hungry. I love the queso and chips at Fuzzy's tacos - I could eat a whole bowl just by myself, but isn't that how it is with all bowls of queso? My favorite Tex Mex is El Fenix in the Dallas area. They say they invented the Tex Mex platter - enchiladas, rice and beans. I wouldn't doubt it. ;) My kids still even talk about El Fenix and how they want to eat there if/when we head back toward Texas to visit. Man, this post really makes me want enchiladas again and I'm the one who wrote it!!
I know. I hate when they call it "gravy" too. Ewwwwww. It sounds just awful. I mean, I like gravy -- real gravy -- as much as the next person. But on Mexican / Tex-Mex food, it's not gravy. It's sauce.
Yes, that is definitely the truth. Even call it salsa as most people know what salsa is. I just looked up the translation of salsa and the second one was gravy...but it still sounds so gross. Gravy is white.
Tex-Mex in Panama! That looks mighty tasty.
Do you often get that wonderful question about "Is Panama food like Mexican? I used to get that one all the time when I lived in Spain.
People don't even know what real Mexican food is like. It's definitely not like Tex Mex!! Mexican food is street tacos. Spain food is paella and ham legs hanging up in the grocery store that they'll cut a big chunk off for you. Tex Mex is what people want. ;)
I will have to try this for sure!! ♥
This looks like a great recipe, and easier than rolling them all up!
It is so much easier to do flat enchiladas!
It looks divine, Mexican food I love, excellent recipe, I'll prepare it. regards
It is yummy. I hope you'll give it a try!
oh my this looks so tasty! I love tex mex foods! Just looking at your pictures makes me hungry @apanamamama :) Well done!
Thanks! Right now I'm always wanting Tex Mex. It sounds so yummy. I'm just glad I can find the tortillas here. Or I'd have to make them too!! They are imported Mexican tortillas because Panamanians don't eat them!
They don't? If I, an English feline mustelid, eat tortillas you'd think everyone would.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
For real. It is sad that the whole world doesn't consume mass quantities of tortillas. They eat them in Costa Rica, but not in Panama. It's rice, beans and chicken here with nothing fancy (including spices or even salt).