Who loves enchiladas? The wholesome, filling and very versatile Mexican dish consisting of flour tortilla and filled with a variety of vegetables, beans and meat. This dish is usually a mixture of sweet and spicy flavours depending on the spices and ingredients used – plus cheese!! Simple, transportable, affordable, and absolutely delicious for the whole family and for pleasing a large crowds of hungry bodies.
I decided to attempt making enchiladas and keeping in the fillings vegetarian, I went with mixed beans (kidney beans, chickpeas and black eye peas), carrots, peppers, sweetcorn and mushrooms. And I went whole wheat flour tortillas with homemade enchilada sauce. I managed to use 8 tortillas with generous amounts of filling and even had some left over. I made use of vegetarian cheddar too which added the final touch to this lovely recipe.
The flour tortillas held their shape after they were shallow fried and rolled. They were super flavourful and filling. The flavour of the enchilada sauce with the vegetables was simply awesome particularly as they were grilled on a grill pan. A yummy mix of veggies, mix beans, and easy homemade enchilada sauce!
A meal on its own and one will satisfy a lot of people!
Grilled Vegetable and Mixed Bean Enchiladas
Ingredients
Olive oil
8-10 whole wheat flour tortillas
500g enchilada sauce
1 large red onion
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 green chillies or to taste requirements
1 large carrot
200g chestnut mushrooms
½ large red and green peppers
75g sweetcorn
75g chickpeas
75g kidney beans
75g black eye peas
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Juice of one lime
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
250g shredded vegetarian cheddar cheese
Method
- If you are using dry beans (which is what I am basing my recipe on) the soak them for at least 24 hours in cold water, changing the water after 12 hours. Otherwise you can use canned beans.
- Chop all the peppers, onion and carrot into small medium chunks. Ensure they are not too big otherwise they will break the tortillas. Set aside.
- Mince the garlic and green chillies. Set aside.
- Heat up a grill pan on the stove until hot. Spray grill with oil and add the chopped vegetables and grill until slightly charred. Set the red onions aside separately from the other veg and allow to cool.
- Heat a non-stick pan, add olive oil and cumin seeds. Allow these to become aromatic.
- Add the grilled red onions, garlic and green chillies and sauté until garlic aroma evaporates.
- Add the remaining grilled veg with the beans, sweetcorn and combine together.
- Add the oregano, juice of one lime, salt and pepper to taste and mix together well. Cook on a low medium heat for about 10 minutes with the lid on. The veggies should be soft when pressed and be dry, at this stage remove from the heat. Remember the veggies have already been cooked on the grill pan so they do not require much cooking time. The purpose here is to infuse all the flavours together for a lovely filling.
- Heat up a small frying pan add 2 tablespoons of oil. Heat to a high heat level.
- Fry the tortillas until they are soft, which is less than 15 seconds. They should not be hard and stiff. They should be soft enough to roll and stiff enough to hold their shape when filled. Place on a paper towel to drain off the excess oil.
- Spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on the bottom of your baking tray.
- Once the tortillas are cool enough to handle, spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce on them and begin filling with the veg mixture and sprinkle with a little cheese. Gently roll them tight without breaking them. Place them with the crease side down on the tray. Do this until you have a packed baking tray.
- Once you have filled your baking tray with the filled tortillas, pour the enchilada sauce over them.
- If you have some extra enchilada filling leftover, then sprinkle this sparingly over the top following a generous sprinkling of cheddar cheese.
- Place the dish in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted and is golden brown.
- Serve with sliced avocados, cherry tomatoes and salasa!
Those of you who are much more experienced than myself, I would love to hear your feedback on this particular recipe.
Grilled Vegetable and Mixed Bean Enchiladas
Best Wishes,
Krishna
Cooking With Krish 