Anna's chicken enchiladas

Mouthwatering Mexican

Now enchiladas sound pretty complicated but I swear they’re not. I made these in an hour from scratch, including time in the oven. All you do is make a spicy tomato sauce whilst frying chicken, onions and peppers with spices. Then roll up the mix in soft tortillas before smothering in sauce and baking in the oven. It’s a pretty basic recipe if you have all the ingredients, which are mainly store cupboard anyway. This will serve well as a basic chicken fajita recipe if you fancy something faster. But don’t forget to load up with salsa and refried beans. And obviously go for turkey if you’re looking for something a little more festive!

Serves four

Ingredients:

For the tomato sauce:

• Olive oil
• ½ an onion, chopped
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 1-2 tsp chopped crushed chilli flakes

For the filling:

• 2-3 chicken breasts/500g turkey
• 1 ½ onion
• 2 red peppers
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika, but the smoky flavour is amazing)
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• Cheddar cheese
• Soft flour tortillas

Method:

1) To make the spicy tomato sauce, slowly fry the chopped onion in a glug of olive oil until translucent and soft.

2) Tip in the can of chopped tomatoes and add ¼ a cup of water.

3) Add the tomato puree and the chilli flakes. For a medium spiced sauce, I add one teaspoon of chilli but if you want it hotter, add another teaspoon.

4) Bring the sauce to the boil, then reduce the heat and leave it to bubble softly for about fifteen minutes, which is the time it takes to prepare the chicken filling.

5) For the enchilada filling, slice the chicken breast into thin strips. Thinly slice the onions and peppers.

6) Heat a glug of oil in a large pan or wok and tip in the chicken, onions and peppers.

7) Fry all ingredients until the chicken is cooked, then sprinkle over the cumin, smoked paprika and chilli powder. Fry for a few more minutes then remove from the heat.

8) By this time your sauce should be done, tasting hot and slightly salty. Turn off the heat and get ready to assemble your enchiladas.

9) Traditionally, the flour tortillas are fried in oil before they are loaded with the chicken but it’s faster and less calorific to skip this part.

10) What you must do however, is take a dessertspoon of the tomato sauce and smear it over both sides of the tortilla. Once you have done this, take a quarter of the chicken mix and lay it in a line. Then sprinkle on a small handful of grated cheddar before rolling up like a cigar and placing neatly in a baking dish.

11) Repeat this process with the rest of the mix, another three times.

12) What you’ll end up with is four fat enchiladas all lined up and snug in your baking dish. Pour over the rest of the tomato sauce to cover, then sprinkle over another handful of grated cheese.

13) Place in the oven at 200˚C for 25 minutes.

You could be healthy and serve these with a salad, but I prefer the nachos, soured cream and tequila route myself... Happy Holidays!

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