When the taste tester and I started dating, I was pretty dedicated to avoiding processed foods and healthy eating and I was pleased to find that he was generally on board (or at least he pretended to be). Together, we came up with a recipe for kale and black bean enchiladas, which quickly became one of our favorite recipes. We made it together pretty frequently, improving each time. They improved dramatically after we settled on the perfect amount of kale: NONE! (I wrote about my feelings on kale here.) Then, something strange started to happen. The more and more I tweaked them the less and less we liked them. Last week, I decided to make my own sauce and the taste tester deemed my enchiladas, once a favorite recipe, completely inedible (to be fair, a big complaint was the quality of the meat, which was not my fault!).
Instead of abandoning enchiladas completely, I shifted from our classic red sauce and black bean enchiladas to these, their antithesis. I once again made the sauce myself, but this time instead of winging it, I googled “best Mexican food blog” and found Mexico in My Kitchen and Pati’s Mexican Table. I followed their sauce recipes (this one and this one, which were essentially the same), pretty much verbatim, lest I make anymore enchilada mistakes. I am so glad that I didn’t give up on enchiladas completely because these were ahhh-mazing! They have even inspired me to give enchiladas rojas another go (maybe). So the lesson here is “If at first you don’t succeed, find someone who’s way better at it than you and imitate them to the best of your ability.” (That has a nice ring, dontcha think?)
BONUS: This recipe is actually super healthy. Although the only veggie I used were the beans, you could easily squeeze a green pepper in the filling for additional health benefits. Also, these could be full-on vegetarian if you replace the chicken with another can of great northern beans and add the green pepper. The cheese is completely optional and not really necessary, but if you are going to use it, make sure you go with a good quality cheese that will have so much more flavor than the Kraft stuff you find in a bag.
Please don’t be intimidated by the time it takes to make these. It’s mostly hands-off, I promise! It really consists of boiling water, whirling a few things in the food processor, and then popping it in the oven. You can have it completely cleaned up by the time these come out of the oven and I promise, these are worth it!
Some Healthy Tips:
- Tortillas can be one of the hardest thing to find in “real food” or unprocessed versions. They are also one of the more labor intensive things to make on your own. I use these (which are made by Ezekiel brand, if you are familiar), which can be found in the freezer section, usually at a health foods store. If you can’t find these, try checking the refrigerator case for fresh corn tortillas, which will have a lot less ingredients and just need to be cooked for about 1 minute before use.
- Greek yogurt is the absolute 100% best replacement for sour cream ever invented and since discovering this I don’t think I have used sour cream one time.
- In most (if not all) grocery stores, there are two cheese sections. One in the back, close to the dairy case, and another in the front near the deli or produce. When you are looking for better quality or variety in cheeses, check out the front case and skip anything that’s already shredded. This can be a great place to find some good sales and try something new.
- If you can’t find fresh tomatillos, you can buy them canned. Almost all grocery stores have a “Mexican” section, so check there.
- 16-20 Tomatillos (should weigh about 2 lb.), removed from husks
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2 serrano chiles; tops removed*
- 1 jalapeño pepper; tops removed*
- ½ small onion, chopped
- ½ c. cilantro leaves
- 1 t. kosher salt
- 1 T oil (I used olive)
- 3 T. oil (I used olive)
- ½ small onion, chopped
- 12 oz. chicken, cooked and shredded (I used two large breasts, but any type will work)**
- 1 can great northern beans (other white beans or pinto beans will also work)
- 12 corn tortillas (I liked to use sprouted corn tortillas, which can be found in the freezer section)
- ¼ c. cotija cheese (or any mild, white cheese) (optional)
- Place the tomatillos, garlic, and peppers (if using), in a saucepan.
- Cover with water, bring water to boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until tomatillos are soft but not falling apart.
- Place tomatillos and about ½ c. of cooking liquid in food processor. Process until smooth, adding more liquid if needed. It should be somewhat runny but thicker than water.
- Add peppers and garlic, process until smooth.
- Add onions, cilantro, and salt, process.
- After the sauce has reached desired consistency, drain the rest of the cooking liquid and wipe out your saucepan.
- Heat the oil in the saucepan. When oil is hot, but not smoking, add sauce to pan. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer.
- Simmer until thickened, about 6 minutes. Stir and taste, add salt if needed.
- Heat 1 T. oil in skillet.
- Add onion, saute 1-2 minutes.
- Add beans and chicken.
- Stir about ½-1 cup (depending how saucy you like it) tomatillo sauce into chicken and beans.
- In a separate, small skillet, heat another 1 T. oil. Pass each tortilla through the oil, heating for about 15 seconds on each side, until the tortilla is soft and pliable. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!! This makes all the difference in assembling the tortillas.
- Spoon about 2 T. filling into each tortilla, roll, and place in oven-safe casserole dish (or something similar with high sides).
- Cover rolled tortillas with remaining tomatillo sauce.
- Top with cotija or similar type cheese, if desired.
- Cover with aluminum foil, bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove foil, bake for additional 5 minutes. (If you cut the baking time short, your enchiladas won't really suffer and I promise not to tell anyone!)
**You can use any type of leftover, cooked chicken. If you don't have leftover chicken, just boil in water until cooked through, then shred with kitchen shears.