This is a recipe from the book that was written by a daughter of the owner of this well known restaurant in San Antonio, Texas. It says that Enchiladas Rancheras is one of the most requested dishes on the restaurant's menu.
INGREDIENTS:
Serves 4
- Vegetable oil for frying (You can also steam the tortillas instead of frying them)
- 12 corn tortillas
- 2 cups Salsa Ranchera (see the recipe below)
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups of cheese (for stuffing)
- 1 1/2 cups crumbled queso fresco (crumbly white Mexican cheese) or feta cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1. Pour 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until hot. One at a time, dip the tortillas into the hot oil to soften them, just a few seconds. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
2. Fill the center of the tortillas with cheese and roll up. Place seam side down on individual plates and top with the sauce and sour cream. Sprinkle the queso fresco cheese over the top.
SALSA RANCHERA
INGREDIENTS:
Makes 6 cups
- 6 tomatoes
- 4 cups water
- 5 serrano chiles, cut into thin strips
- 1/2 onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
DIRECTIONS: 1. Put the tomatoes in a large saucepan, add the water, and bring to a boil. Cook until the skins start to split, 10 to 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the tomatoes from the water, set the pan aside.
2. Peel the tomatoes and return them to the pan of water. Using a potato masher, thoroughly mash the tomatoes, blending them with the water. Add the chiles, onion, and oil and bring to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Season with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and serve hot.
selected by Kaho
5 comments:
I guess I will get this discussion started. . . did anyone else make this recipe? I was sort of hesitant because I imagined the enchilada to be a melted cheese quesidalla, but boy was I surprised!
The salsa sauce was amazing!!! I had to boil it vigorously and for much longer than the recipe called for but the end result was fantastic - a delicious, spicy mix of tomatoes, onions, and flavors. It was an amazing topper and I definitely will make it again soon.
Next time I make the recipe I would include refried beans inside the enchilada, which I still think was kind of bland given that there was only cheese inside.
I made a side of Mexican rice and used the crumbling cheese over black beans, so we had a great Mexican dinner last night. This was one of my husband's favorite recipes! Thanks for picking something so yummy and original, Kaho!
I made this recipe for lunch yesterday, and it was quite tasty...thanks, Kaho!
When I first looked at the recipe, it seemed almost too simple, like Anne said, so I modified a lot. Because I wanted to serve the enchiladas as a main dish, I added black beans, corn, and cilantro to the filling. (Anne, I love the refried beans idea!)
With the salsa, I omitted the onions (hate them!), used just a T of olive oil, and added a dash of cumin, a splash of lime juice, and more cilantro. Like Anne, I had to simmer the salsa for about an hour -- read the whole Sunday Styles section, plus Travel -- but enjoyed the end result. If I were to make the salsa again, I'd add a few more peppers for a little more heat.
[Note on cilantro: I've discovered these incredible little frozen cubes of chopped herbs at Trader Joe's. They come from some kibbutz in Israel, and they offer basil, parsley, cilantro, and garlic in little packets of 12 (I think) 1-tsp cubes. For everyone who's ever needed just a little bit of something for a recipe, these are a total lifesaver and a world apart from dried.]
I couldn't find queso fresco, so I bought feta, but, worrying that the result would be too salty or sharp, I substituted goat cheese in half of them. To my great surprise, I liked the feta much more, but I believe that's because the sweetness of the corn mitigated the bite of the feta.
I warmed the tortillas individually with cooking spray and then baked them, blintz-style, in a 13x9 Pyrex with the salsa ladeled over. (Jeremy came home from a weekend out of town and asked if there was a "Mexican lasagna" in the kitchen.) Only 10 would fit in the baking dish, so that's all I made.
I considered adding melted cheddar on top, but it just seemed like cheese overload. I had bought an enormous tub of sour cream on sale for this recipe, and then I used it up in two cakes on Saturday...oops...did everyone love what it added? I also had a perfectly ripe avocado ready to go, but I completely forgot to use it.
What did everyone think about 3 of these as a serving size? I ate the recommended 3 for lunch, felt satisfied but not too stuffed, and then left home for an event at work. When I got back, none were left, so -- using the powers of subtraction -- Jeremy clearly felt that 7 was an appropriate serving. (He claims he had 3 for lunch and 4 for dinner... whatever.) In any case, he obviously enjoyed the recipe, and I did, too. I'd definitely continue to play with the ingredients and try it again.
I feel like I missed something with this - everyone else has covered bits and pieces of how I felt about this recipe. I thought that if three of these were a serving, then they'd be more substantial than they actually turned out to be.
First of all, I should have heated them in the oven as Miriam did - they were basically just tortillas with uncooked shredded cheese in them. Were we supposed to do anything to melt that cheese? If I made these again, I would add more fillings too.
I didn't cook the salsa as long as everyone else did, so it was a little runnier, but I did like it, and saved the leftover to reuse, although I haven't yet.
With all that cheese, I didn't want to warm the tortillas in oil, so I stacked them on a plate, covered them with a wet paper towel and warmed them in the microwave for about a minute. That worked really well - they were prefectly soft.
And I also used feta for the top - I don't love the saltiness of feta but I knew I wouldn't be able to get kosher queso fresco. I completely lucked out because I found a really delicious kosher sheep's milk feta at Trader Joe's. I would HIGHLY recommend to everyone (kosher cheese-buying or not) - the brand is Pastures of Eden, and it comes in a yellow and lime green package. I was really creamy, mellow and delicious, not salty and dry like many fetas.
I might try these again with some significant variations, but I am happy that I got the salsa recipe and discovered the amazing feta as a result!
I was glad to see the comments of those of you who tried this recipe! I also cooked the salsa for a long time like Anne and Feffer did. I used other recipes from the same book and I felt that either the amount of ingredients is a bit off or I was doing something wrong... I'm glad that all of you who wrote comments had the same experience cooking the salsa as I did. I liked the salsa a lot, too. I put 4 serrano chiles but it still turned quite hot for us. I was sweating when I ate the enchiladas although I usually do pretty well with spicy food. I also put the tortillas in the microwave and after I rolled the cheese in and poured salsa and feta on the enchiladas, I placed them in the oven to make the stuffed cheese melt. I hope that you will be able to use this recipe again!
I loved this recipe! Once the sauce was made, it was super easy to throw together. After making it once, Josh and I had his poker buddies over and we served this. It was perfect. Will make this over and over again. Thanks Kaho!
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