Red Sauce for Chicken Enchiladas
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 min
Total Cook Time: 50 min
I tried to make usage of the limited variety of dried chiles that I’ve been able find here in Boston. Ideally I’d like to use ancho chiles in addition to the California chiles but I’ll take what I can get.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp whole cumin seeds
1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1 tbsp dried mexican oregano
3 dried California chiles
3 chipotle peppers – roughly chopped (I like the kind that are packed in adobo sauce – I usually add a little of the adobo sauce to my enchilada sauce)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion – finely diced
2 garlic cloves – finely minced
1 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 tsp brown sugar*
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper*
Set a small pan over medium heat and let it come up to temperature. Add the California chiles to the pan and let them toast for 2-3 minutes on each side, making sure that they do not burn. Remove the peppers from the pan and set them aside so they cool. Next, add the cumin, coriander, and oregano to the pan and toast over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Keep the pan moving so that the spices don’t burn. Transfer these spices to a spice grinder and grind until fine, then set aside. Remove the stems from the California chilies, then cut the peppers into small pieces and add to the spice grinder (I like to use kitchen shears for this step). I don’t bother to remove the seeds before grinding. Grind finely, and set aside.
Set a medium saucepan pan over medium heat and let it come up to temperature. Add the oil, wait 1 min, then add the onions. Let the onions cook for 10 minutes – you want them to be nice and soft. Add the garlic to the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Next, add the cumin/coriander/oregano mixture and cook for another minute. Then add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, the dried chiles and the chipotle peppers and let the sauce simmer for about 30 min. Transfer the sauce to a blender and puree until smooth. Then add the sauce back to the saucepan and keep it over low heat until it is time to assemble the enchiladas. It’s a good idea to taste the sauce at this point and make any corrections if necessary. If the sauce is a bit too smoky for your tastes, add a bit of brown sugar. If the sauce isn’t hot enough, then add a bit of cayenne pepper.
Note: This recipe will make just barely enough sauce for 2 9″ x 13″ pans filled with enchiladas.
