the whole enchilada

The other day, Kira found this enchilada recipe and she made it with her friend.  I've never made enchiladas before, but I happily tried it.  It was good.  Good job finding a new dinner, Kira! We decided to make it again. 

I changed things a little from the original site.  I put kale, onions, and corn in mine (Nick's and Natalie's), but Kira (and Tia) stuck with black beans and rice (no veggies).  She used a little Daiya Cheese (and so did Tia and Natalie).  Nick and I enjoyed ours sans the Daiya cheese.  We made the cashew sour cream for topping.  OMG!  It's good! The whole recipe is good.

I plan to change the sauce a little next time by adding a little less chili powder, adding more tomato paste, and adding a little cumin.

Here's the recipe with the modifications I plan to make:

Enchilada Sauce
    • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 2 tsp garlic powder
    • 2 tbsp oregano
    • 1 tbsp cumin
    • 5 tbsp chili powder
    • ½ tsp salt
    • 1 7-ounce jar of tomato paste
    • 3.5 cups vegetable broth
(If you want more kick add a little cayenne and/or chili powder.  The original version of the sauce had 8 tablespoons and it seemed like too much, but I haven't tried making this with 5.  I'm guessing 5-6 tablespoons will be the sweet spot.  I'll fix when I make this again and decide.) (I doubled her amount of sauce because I like sauce and there are 5 of us.)

Cashew Cream
    • ½ cup raw cashews
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove
    • ¼ cup water
    • ½ tsp salt
    • ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Kale Filling
    • ½ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 yellow onion, diced
    • 4 cups frozen kale
    • ½ cup corn kernels  

Black Beans
    • 2 15oz cans of black beans (cooked with 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tsp cumin, and ~3/4 tsp salt--'cause my beans were unsalted.)

Directions:
Enchilada Sauce
    • Heat oil, add flour; whisk until smooth.
    • Add spices, tomato paste, and vegetable broth. Whisk until smooth. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. It will thicken.

Cashew Cream
    • Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and process/blend until very smooth.  (If you're using a food processor you may want to soak the cashews for 20 or so minutes first.)

Kale Filling
    • Saute onion in a little olive oil or broth (your preference), and cook until softened, about 5-10 minutes.
    • Add Kale cook until soft
    • Add corn cook until warm

Rice
We also made some rice for the tortillas 'cause that's what 2 of my girls wanted.

After everything is cooked, preheat your oven to 350F and pour some of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of veggies to a tortilla, add rice (if you want) and a spoonful of black beans.  Roll it up tightly, and place seam-side down in your baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas. (We made 10 tortillas, but had to use two pans.) Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, cover everything well. Cover the baking dish with foil, (I used a silicon baking sheet) and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. Serve with a cashew cream