Arizona Recipes--Karen's Enchiladas

This is a recipe for the very popular enchiladas that my sis makes.  She serves these with Mexican Rice and refried beans--all of them topped with generous portions of cheese.  This will make a dozen.

Ingredients

1/3 cup chili powder                                                        1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup olive oil                                                               3 chicken breasts or 3 cans of chicken
1 16oz pkg 4 cheese blend, grated cheese                        12 corn tortillas
diced onions to taste--I use approximately 1/2 cup, but this is personal.
1 to 2 teaspoons unsweetened coca, optional

If using fresh chicken, poach chicken until done and tender. Drain, reserving broth, and cool; or drain canned chicken, reserving broth. Add enough water to broth to make a quart.

To make sauce: Stir flour into olive oil, stir in chili powder, add 1/2 quart of water/broth combination and shake or stir until very smooth and no lumps.  For richer flavor and color add the coca at this point.  Add remaining broth and heat in a heavy pan until smooth and thick.
Dice and shred chicken in a large bowl, add 1 cup of grated cheese, onions and enough sauce to moisten.

Heat additional olive oil in a large heavy skillet--we use cast iron--on medium high heat.  With tongs dip one side of a tortilla in hot oil and remove as soon as it softens.  Drain on a paper towel.  Continue to dip just one side of each tortilla in hot oil and stack them, oil side down.  If oil smokes it is too hot; you do not want to cook them, just soften them so they do not tear when you roll them.

Ladle enough enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 12 X 13 pan to just cover the bottom.  This helps keep the enchiladas from drying out and sticking when they are baked.

Place 1/12 of your chicken mixture on a tortilla, slightly off center, and roll.  Place the enchilada seam side down in the sauce in the pan and continue until all chicken and tortillas are used.  If there are too many for the pan you can put a little sauce in a pie pan to hold the extras.  Get creative with the arrangement if you need to.  You want them cozy but not crowded.

Ladle additional sauce over the enchiladas and top with a generous amount of the grated cheese.    Bake, uncovered, in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until cheese melts and sauce bubbles.  Do not over bake.  You can make these up ahead of time and refrigerate, covered.  Just uncover and heat 30 approximately  minutes or until hot and bubbly and cheese is melted.  You can also separate these into smaller pans and heat as you need.

Serve with rice, beans, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and sour cream.  Guacamole is good too.  Let your guests pile on what they like.  Six servings.

 You may have sauce and cheese left over.  This is not an exact science. It sounds complicated but makes up fast and pretty easy.  Serve the extra in case anyone wants more sauce or cheese.

You can also substitute shredded beef or browned ground beef for chicken.  I have substituted some cooked brown rice for 1/3 of the meat mixture.

Calorie count?  Don't ask/don't tell, but you can cut down on fat content by making your sauce with flour, chili powder and broth, mix very well and heat until smooth and thickened.  You do sacrifice some flavor, but they are still good.  Enjoy!