It’s Not the Whole Enchilada; it’s the Sauce.
When we crave some excellent Mexican food at my house, we usually opt for either enchiladas or tacos. When I make enchiladas, I use different variations to keep things interesting. This version uses a delicious combination of ground beef, poblano chiles, and Oaxaca cheese. While you might think the filling makes the meal, it isn’t the hero in this recipe. Instead, it’s the Sauce, and creating your mole/chile sauce makes all the difference. Using a can of store-bought enchilada sauce doesn’t have the depth of flavor you find at good-quality Mexican restaurants.
Using quality fresh, dried chiles is a must. Look for chiles that are leathery and still pliable. Dry roasting the chiles in a hot skillet will add tons of flavor. You can take this a step further and roast all of the ingredients before making this Sauce. The flavors will be enhanced when you bring out their essence using heat.
This recipe is the short version of Coloradito Mole. I will publish the definitive, more extended version later in this blog. I say quick because this dish took me about 1.5 hours from scratch. The final version takes about 1.5 hours for the Sauce alone. The Sauce can be prepared in advance and will blend better overnight, but it is so delicious I usually use it the same day. For this recipe, you can substitute Carne Guisada (Mexican-style beef stew meat), chopped fajita meat, shredded chicken, ground turkey, and shredded pulled pork, or add a vegetarian twist with mushrooms, onions, and squash.
These enchiladas are delicious and will be a hit for anyone you cook them for. Extra toppings such as cilantro, diced onion, guacamole, Mexican sour cream, and cheese are up to you.
Ancho chiles on the left, and Guajillo chiles on the right.
Dry roast chiles in a hot iron skillet. To speed up the process, use a spatula to press down on the chiles as they roast. Cook until fragrant and slightly charred from the heat.
Once the chiles have been dry-roasted, soak them in hot water. In this image, I’ve placed a transparent plate on top of the chiles to hold them underwater. Soak for around 30 minutes.
Dice the aromatics to use with the ground beef.
Sauté the vegetables in hot oil to soften them.
Once the onion mixture is cooked, add the ground beef and seasonings.
Cook until the meat is cooked through.
Drain any excess oil off of the ground beef.
Roast the garlic with the skins on to protect and soften the cloves. Drizzle the tomatoes with some oil before roasting to help the skins char slightly.
Under a broiler, char the tomatoes and garlic.
The papery tunic around the roasted garlic comes off easily after cooking.
Strain and discard the liquid from the chiles.
Rough chop the Mexican chocolate.
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until just brown. Be careful not to burn them. Once they take on color, remove them from the heat and pour them into a cool bowl to stop the cooking process before adding them to the blender.
Add all of the ingredients for the Sauce to a blender.
Process the mixture on slow, gradually increasing the speed until well blended.
Once the Sauce has been blended, pour it into a fine mesh strainer. Use a spoon to work the Sauce through the filter carefully. This process won’t damage the straining screen as other instruments do.
The more significant bits will remain in the filter once the Sauce passes. Discard these.
The strained Sauce still needs one more step. Heat a large skillet with pork lard. (I have an excellent source for pork lard here in Utah that will ship to your home. Most states have a farm that sells lard. The point is to get fresh pork lard without the shelf-stabilizing chemicals and additives. Check out this article on lard at NPR. I keep mine frozen until I’m ready to use it.)
Heat the pork lard until hot but not smoking.
Add the Sauce to the hot lard. It will immediately start sizzling and cook into the lard.
The Mole Coloradito sauce is cooking away!
Partially cover the Sauce and cook.
When the Sauce is ready, turn your attention to the meat stuffing. In this version, I’ve added shredded Oaxaca cheese (optional). Oaxaca cheese is the Mexican equivalent of Monterrey Jack. It melts well and becomes stringy, which is perfect for enchiladas.
This is a tip that nearly all professional cooks use when making enchiladas: reheat all tortillas at once on a sizeable oven-sheet pan. Lightly coat each tortilla with a touch of oil. This will help make the tortillas pliable and easy to roll when warmed.
Spoon the enchilada stuffing into the center of each warmed tortilla.
In the enchilada dish, add about 1/3 cup of the Sauce to the bottom before adding the rolled enchiladas. Without this Sauce, the enchiladas will get too crispy when baked.
The number of enchiladas in the pan will vary, given the pan size you use. In this case, I had two extra I snuck in at the top.
Generously cover the enchiladas with the Sauce. Spread with a rubber spatula, and cover the tortillas completely. If done correctly, the Sauce will absorb and cook into the tortillas, so don’t worry if you have a little extra Sauce.
Cover the enchiladas with a layer of plastic wrap. This will ensure the sauce bakes into the tortillas and does not evaporate. The plastic will not melt if covered by a second layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Always put a barrier between wet food and aluminum when cooking with aluminum foil. Aluminum is highly reactive and can melt into foods containing acid. Mashed potatoes or anything with tomato, like lasagna, will react with the aluminum and get into the food. If you dislike plastic wrap, use parchment/butcher paper to provide a barrier between the food and aluminum. Bake for 20 minutes at (350°F or 175°C).
Two enchiladas are a perfect portion, scooped out with a long spatula. Being old-school, I love fresh chopped onion, guacamole, Mexican Crema, and cilantro. These enchiladas are unbelievably good. I serve mine with a finely shredded salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and toasted bread crumbs in a simple vinaigrette. Cold Mexican beer or Margaritas are also a nice touch.
Beverage Pairing
Enchiladas De Ternera Con Mole Coloradito (Beef Enchiladas with Mole Coloradito)
Equipment
- casserole dish
- skillet
- Blender
- broiler safe pan
- measuring cups and spoons
- saucepan
- cutting board
- chef knife
- rubber spatula
Ingredients
Reconstituted Chiles
- 3 oz ancho chile, dried (seeded/stemmed and reconstituted in hot water)
- ¾ oz guajillo chile, dried (seeded/stemmed and reconstituted in hot water)
Beef Filling
- 2 tbsp oil, vegetable/avocado, or any neutral-tasting oil
- ½ whole white onion, minced
- 4 whole garlic, minced
- 1 whole poblano chile, fresh, seeded, and diced
- 2 lbs ground beef You can substitute ground chicken, pork, or turkey
- 1 tbsp cumin, ground
- 1 tbsp Oregano (preferably Mexican, but any oregano will do)
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, coarse grind
- ¾ cup Oaxaca cheese, shredded can substitute Monterey Jack
Mole Coloradito Sauce
- 2 tbsp oil, avocado, or vegetable
- 3 whole Tomato, plum, cored, and cut in half
- 5 whole Garlic roasted with husks
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds toasted slightly brown in a dry pan
- ¾ oz Mexican chocolate, roughly chopped I used sweetened Goya chocolate
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground clove
- 4 oz chilies, reconstituted
- 1 cup reserved soaking liquid from chiles
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, coarse grind
Refrying Mole Coloradito Sauce
- ⅓ cup lard or vegetable oil
- 3½ cups Mole Coloradito
Assemble Enchiladas
- 3 cups Mole Coloradito Sauce, warm
- 12 each corn tortillas, 6"
- beef filling
- ¾ cup Oaxaca cheese shredded for topping
Garnish (optional)
- ⅓ cup cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup Mexican crema/sour cream or plain yogurt
- ½ cup guacamole (see Molcajete Guacamole recipe in this blog)
- ½ cup Additional diced sweet or white onion
Instructions
Roast Chilies
- Dry-roast chiles in a hot iron skillet over medium-high heat. To speed up the process, use a spatula to press down on the chiles as they roast. Cook until fragrant and slightly charred from the heat.
Prepare dried chilies
- Cut open the tops of the dried ancho and guajillo chiles. Remove the stems and seeds. Place the dried chiles in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Heat 3 cups of water to just boiling and pour over the chiles. Place a medium-sized plate on top of the chiles to ensure they stay submerged in hot water. Soak for about 30 minutes. After the chiles have softened, pour off 1 cup of the soaking liquid and reserve for sauce. Add the chiles to a blender.
Prepare Beef Filling
- While the chiles are soaking, chop and mince the garlic, poblano, and onion. Heat a skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Once the oil is brought up to temperature or shimmering (never smoking), add the vegetables and cook until just done or soft.
- Add the ground beef and seasonings (cumin, oregano, salt, and black pepper). Cook the meat until done, mixing with the onion mixture. Strain this mixture to remove excess fat and place it into a mixing bowl. Allow cooling. Once the meat is cooled, add Oaxaca cheese, incorporate and reserve.
Prepare Mole Coloradito
- Preheat the broiler oven (500°F or 260°C) and position an oven rack on the top shelf or as close as possible to the broiling element.
- To start the sauce, return to the chiles, and once they have softened, pour off 1 cup of the soaking liquid and reserve for sauce. Next, add the chiles to a blender.
- Broil the vegetables on a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up). Core and slice the tomatoes in half and add the garlic clove (still in the paper tunic). Drizzle a little oil on the tomatoes. Cook under the broiler until charred, about 7-10 minutes. After the tomato and garlic are cooked, lower the oven to Bake at 350°F or 175°C).
- Peel the garlic cloves and tomato and add to the blender with the reconstituted chiles. Add the toasted sesame seeds, chocolate, ground clove, and cinnamon. Add the reserved chile soaking liquid and the chicken stock. Process the mixture in a blender.
- Once the mole mixture is smooth, strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer over a mixing bowl. Reserve.
- Heat the lard or vegetable oil in a large skillet until hot or shimmering over medium-high heat. Slowly add the strained mole sauce, which will instantly start to sizzle. Continue adding until it is all in the pan, and keep heating until it cooks thoroughly. Reduce the heat and partially cover with a lid. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring often.
Assemble the Enchiladas
- With a large (1/2 sheet pan), one dozen corn tortillas overlapped, brush on a scant amount of oil over each tortilla. Heat in (350°F or 175°C) oven for 3 or 4 minutes until just soft.
- While the tortillas are heating up, add ¾ cup of the Mole Coloradito to a 9x13 inch casserole dish.
- Using a scoop/large spoon or set of tongs, add about 3 tbsp of the meat filling to each tortilla. Roll up each tortilla with the meat mixture and place it into the casserole dish.
- Cover the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and spread out with a rubber spatula to ensure all the tortillas are completely covered. Next, add a layer of plastic wrap or parchment paper, followed by a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
- Bake the enchiladas for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the foil and plastic wrap. Top with Oaxaca or Monterrey Jack Cheese and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes more until the cheese is melted and slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5-8 minutes.
To Serve
- For service, plate two enchiladas per plate and garnish (optional) with additional diced onion, Mexican crema (sour cream), guacamole, and fresh chopped cilantro.
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