Enchiladas Verdes - Lip-Smacking Food

Ever since I visited Mexico a year ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about the enchiladas I ate there. I decided to try making them myself and wrote a shopping list of the key ingredients: tortillas, salsa verde, chicken, Mexican cream and queso fresco. Corona, Queens is a mainly Hispanic neighborhood and consequently there is a large number of Mexican grocery stores. So I headed there with my shopping list and got everything I needed, starting with the tortillas. If you want the best tortillas in New York go to Tortilleria Nixtamel. They are the only tortilleria in the city that soaks, grinds, and mixes dried corn into house made masa for their tortillas and tamales. You’ll get roughly 15 tortillas per pound, for $2.25. Tortilleria Nixtamel also sells their salsas to go, so if you’re pushed for time like I was, you can pick up your salsa verde and choose from 3 different sizes depending how much you need. The next time I make these enchiladas I want to make my own salsa verde, which consists of tomatillos, garlic, jalapeno or serrano chilies, cilantro, onion and salt. Typically, the salsa verde is only used on top of the enchiladas but I chose to put it inside the tortillas as well. I also added chopped tomatoes as a garnish but this is optional.

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded chicken (rotisserie chicken works well)
Oil for frying the tortillas
8 oz container of salsa verde (0r make your own)
1/2 cup Mexican style cream (can substitute heavy cream)
1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco
1/3 cup chopped white onion for garnish (or can substitute tomatoes like I did)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit (176 degrees celsius). In a large pan, pour the oil so it’s about 1/2 inch depth and heat. Pass each tortilla through the oil quickly, about 15 seconds each side. This softens the tortillas and makes them resilient so they can be folded without breaking and hold onto the sauce better. Place tortillas on a paper towel covered plate.

2. Place chicken evenly amongst the 12 tortillas. Spoon a little of the salsa verde over the chicken if desired. Roll them up and place them seam-side down in a large baking dish. Cover the tortillas with the rest of the salsa verde. Put them in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the crumbled cheese, Mexican cream and chopped onion (or tomatoes).