Birthday Enchiladas

To continue our Mexican food extravaganza I wanted to share with you our most recent concoction. We made these for Chelsea’s birthday, and I have to say it was quite impressive. However, we may have cheated a little bit because we had to use some enchilada mix from the States, but birthdays are special things, right? Happens only once a year or something. Well, this meal made me wish everyday was a birthday. Heck, maybe I will just make up celebrations like “Gooey-Melted Cheesy Day” or “Christopher Columbus Brought Pasta to South America Day” or “It’s Hot and Humid in Guyana Day” Let’s celebrate with some enchiladas! Just thinking about them makes me want to celebrate their existence with a Christmas tree. They were real good.

6 flour Roti (or tortillas if you got 'em)
Enchilada Mix (we used powder mixed w/ water, you can also use canned sauce)
Cheese
Chicken
Black eyed Beans
Corn (We got the canned stuff rinsed as to lower the sodium content)
Diced Onions.

First, you want to butcher your chicken. Unfortunately, we don’t have boneless breasts here so we have to cut it away from the bone. Once you have it off the bone (or if you’re a lucky individual who can get it boneless than by all means do it (and know my envy for you)), then dice up the chicken into cubes.

Mix the powder with water and boil it. Add the diced chicken into the Enchilada Broth. Continue boiling until chicken is cooked. (We had to add some water and more powder due to reduction. But we also didn’t know how much broth to make, the Mix came in an unmarked container…Thanks, Emily and crew J …so if you know the measurements it should be okay. Or if you have the canned sauce, cook the chicken in that.)

As the chicken is cooking you can make your “tortillas” or in our case Roti. With flour, water mixed together, folded into balls (with some margerine), and then rolled out and placed on the tawa to cook (more in-depth instruction to come). If have some pre-made tortillas you can skip this step.

When the chicken finishes, remove it from the pan (or Kaharee in our case) with some of the sauce, then sauté the onions in a little of the enchilada sauce that's left in the pan.

Now here comes the fun part: putting the enchiladas together! If you have an oven you can probably use a pyrex type cassorole dish; however if you’re in Guyana without an oven you must be resourceful. We used two tawas and a cooking pan (see photo below)

Place an open tortilla in the dish or pan (perhaps a little butter or oil on the bottom of the pan/dish to prevent sticking). Add the cheese, chicken (covered in sauce), corn, and onions (also covered in sauce) into the tortilla and add a bit more Enchilada sauce. Roll the tortilla up with the open sides against the bottom of the pan, so it doesn’t roll open. Do the same procedure with all your Roti/Tortillas, organizing them so they all fit into your pan/dish. *

As you fill up your dish/pan pour the rest of the sauce on top of the enchiladas then cover with a copious amounts of cheese.

Place them in the oven (not too sure about temperature), or in your pan sitting on a tawa and covered with a tawa. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until you think they’re done. Serve.**

* to make it vegetarian you can leave out the chicken, add more cheese or whatev, it will still be good.

**try them with the salsa obsession or some rice on the side. It will melt your face off with flovour.

Here was our makeshift oven. My kingdom for an Oven!

The finished product all gooey and good. Happy B-day Chelsea! This was served with lots of love.