Today’s recipe is another Mexican Dish from San Luis Potosi, “Enchiladas Potosinas”, these are what we call Empandas in Coahuila,the masa and filling are seasoned with an amazing and delicious red sauce, that’s why they are Enchiladas and not Empandas!
Ingredients for the masa
- 2 C Maseca (Instant Corn Masa Flour)
- 1 C Water
- 10 Dried Ancho Chiles
- Salt to taste
- 1 T Lard
- 1 Garlic clove
- Vegetable Oil for frying
- Onion Slices to serve
For the filling
- 2 C Cooked shredded Chicken
- 1 ½ C Queso Fresco (Feta Cheese)
- ½ C diced Onion
- 1 T Vegetable Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Make the Sauce:
Remove the stems and seeds from the dry chillis. In a skillet or griddle on medium high heat, toast the dry chilies for about a minute on each side. Pour about two cups of boiling water into the dry chilies and let them soak in the boiling water for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, they should be soft, so place them in a blender, also add in all the water in which you soaked the chilies, season with one garlic clove, salt to taste and a bit of onion. Blend on high for about three - five minutes or until well blended in a soft sauce.
In a sauce pan, add in one tablespoon of lard or oil, and strain the sauce right in, bring the sauce to a boil. Once it starts to boil, taste the flavor add more salt if needed, add more water if you think the sauce is too thick, reduce the heat to low and let it boil on low for five more minutes. Set aside to cool down.
Make the Filling:
In a large skillet on medium high heat, add one tablespoon of oil and cook the onion for about two minutes or until soften. Then add in the chicken and continue to cook for another two or three more minutes, just to heat up the chicken. Remove the skillet from the heat.
Combine the chicken mixture with one cup of Queso Fresco (feta Cheese), also add two or three tablespoons of the red sauce, stir to combine, taste the flavor add more salt if needed, once you are happy with the flavor the filling is ready. Set it aside for a minute. (you don't want the filling to be too wet or liquidy so just add enough sauce to give the chicken some color and flavor!)
Make the Masa:
Place the Instant Corn Masa flour into a large bowl and season it with salt to taste, then add in one cup of water and stir until combined, then add in one cup of the red sauce, start by adding half of the sauce at a time, continue to stir until you get a soft dough, it will take about 2 minutes, and the dough should be soft without any lumps and without being too sticky, it should have the same texture than the dough you use to make corn tortillas, feel free to add more sauce or water to get the desired texture, but keep adding the liquid or sauce just one tablespoon at a time, to prevent the dough from becoming too sticky.
Once the dough is ready, now make grab about two tablespoon of it, and roll it into a small ball, keep on making small masa balls until you are done.
Make the Enchiladas:
Grab the small masa ball, and with a tortilla presser, press it down to make a circle, the circle should be as thin as a corn tortilla, then right in the center of the circle add some of the chicken mixture, fold the circle in half, and bring the edges together to seal the filling right in the center of the circle, you are basically making empanadas.
Keep on repeating these steps until you have all the Enchiladas done!
Cook the Enchiladas:
Preheat a skillet or griddle and pre-cook the Enchiladas for about one minute on each side, just to give them some texture, (The masa won't cook all the way through!).
To finish cooking the Enchiladas, fry them in plenty of hot oil for about two or three minutes on each side, or until they get nice and crisp on the outside and are cooked all the way through. Drain them on paper towels.
To Serve:
Spoon the leftover sauce over the Enchiladas and garnish with onion slices and more Queso Fresco!
enjoy
