Tacos may very well be the perfect food, but let's face it, the standard Meximerican fare can get a bit stale after a while. Taco the Town is here to highlight some of the more unusual Mexican finds in the valley.
This week: We're whipping up a batch of enchiladas and then trying out something a little different, with enmoladas, enfrijoladas, and entomatadas.
¿Como se dice?: Most folks have a passing familiarity with enchiladas as a greasy mass of tortillas and sauce that sits in a rock at the bottom of your gut. You can get them slopped on a platter at just about any Meximerican joint in town. Bland, soggy, and so covered in cheddah that it completely obscures the zing from the namesake chile sauce.
Few realize that the enchiladas are just one of many types of corn tortilla dishes that are fried, dipped, stuffed, and rolled in a variety of Mexican sauces. Today, we're showing you the right way to make classic enchiladas, and an easy way to spice it up by substituting a chocolate (mole), bean (frijole), or tomato (tomate) based sauce in lieu of the chiles.
(sink your teeth into all the spicy details after the jump)
How to Assemble the En-blank-adas:
1. Heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet. Add a corn tortilla and fry for about 10 seconds on each side. Just enough to soak them in oil, but not enough for them to become crispy.
2. Stack your flash fried corn tortillas on a plate and assemble the rest of the fixings in an assembly line. First tortillas, then sauce, then a plate to roll your enchiladas on, then fillings. For enchiladas you'll need the enchilada sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, and onions. For enmoladas, you'll need shredded chicken and onions (and maybe some crumbly cojita to top them after they've been baked).
3. Place a fried tortilla in your sauce of choice. Poke it around until you're satisfied that one side is properly soaked. Flip and repeat for the other side.
4. Move the tortilla to the rolling plate, place some filling in it, and roll it up tight. Place in an oven safe (or microwave safe) dish. Continue until the dish is full and then smother the whole thing in extra sauce. Warm the entire platter of en-blank-adas in the oven or microwave and dinner's served!
Know of any Mexican gems in the Valley? Reveal your secrets in the comment section.
