Ingredients
- 1 small onion, chopped (about a cup)
- Vegetable oil - grapeseed or olive
- 2 small cloves garlic, minced
- 1 14.5-ounce can tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted if you can get it
- 2 Tbsp red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup to a cup of water
- 12 corn tortillas
- Grapeseed oil, peanut oil or canola oil - a high smoke point vegetable oil
- 2-3 cups of cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
- Salt
- 2 cups grated cheese (about 1/3 lb)
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2 Prepare the sauce. Coat a large ski
llet with oil and sauté the onions on medium heat until translucent, a few minutes. Add the garlic for a minute more. While the onions are cooking, purée the canned tomatoes in a blender. Add the tomatoes to the onions and garlic. Bring to a low simmer. Start adding the chili powder, one teaspoon at a time, tasting after each addition, until you get to the desired level of heat and chili flavor. For us that's around 2 Tablespoons. But it depends on your taste and how strong the chili powder is that you are using. Note that the tortillas and chicken will absorb some of the heat, so allow for that and let it be a little bit spicier than what you want in the finished dish. Add a teaspoon of sugar if necessary to cut down on the acid from the tomatoes. You want more ofthe taste of the chili and less of the tomatoes for this sauce. As the sauce simmers, dilute it with water to keep it from getting tothick as it simmers. Remove from heat.
Alternatively, use a prepared canned enchilada sauce, which can be perfectly fine.
3 Mix in 1/4 cup of the sauce with the cooked chicken, and a 1/4 cup of the cheese. Sprinkle with a little salt. Set aside.
4 Prepare the tortillas. There are 2 basic ways to prepare the tortillas - the traditional way of dipping them in the sauce and heating them individually, or the second way when trying to cut down on the fat.
This is just a guideline and you can do what you want.
Note that because we made this batch the low-fat way, the following photos show tortillas not coated in chili sauce, but the method is the same for if you did.
Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese.
6 Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
Use a metal spatula to serve.
Serve with thinly sliced iceberg lettuce that has been seasoned with vinegar and salt (no oil),
guacamole or avocado slices, and sour cream. Garnish with cilantro.
Serves 4.
How to Cut and Peel an Avocado
Method
1 Grip the avocado gently on one side with one hand. With a large, sharp knife in the other hand, cut the avocado lengthwise around the seed. Open the two halves to expose the pit.
2a At this point there are a few ways you can proceed to remove the pit from the avocado half that has the pit. One way is to make another cut, lengthwise on the avocado half that has the pit, cutting around the pit, exposing it so that it is easier to remove.
You can also use a spoon to scoop out the pit.
2b Another method is a bit tricky, as you'll see. This method is very popular, but you must be careful lest you cut your hand. For safety, fold up a kitchen towel and use that to hold the avocado half with the pit. Gently tap the pit with a knife with enough force so that the knife edge wedges into the pit, but not so hard as to cut all the way through it. I generally just tap it very gently a few times, each with increasing pressure, until a cut is made in the pit sufficiently to twist the pit out. Getting the pressure just right takes a little practice.
With the edge of the knife, twist the pit out of the avocado and discard.
3a At this point, you can either scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon (for making guacamole), or slice the avocado into segments. To make it more easy to scoop out the avocado flesh, take a small dinner knife and gently make cuts in the avocado flesh in a cross-hatch pattern, careful not to break through the avocado peel. Then use a spoon to easily scoop out the avocado pieces. If you are making guacamole, don't worry about slightly discolored or brownish sections. Scoop them up with the rest of the avocado to mash.
3b To make avocado slices, use a knife to slice the inside of the avocado halves into sections. Don't worry if you cut right through the peel.
4 Use your fingers to separate the avocado segments from the peel.
Guacamole Recipe
2 ripe avocados
½ red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1-2 serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
A dash of freshly grated black pepper
1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped
Garnish with red radishes or jicama. Serve with tortilla chips.
Method
1 Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avacado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl.
(See How to Cut and Peel an Avocado.)
2 Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add the chopped onion, cilantro, lime or lemon, salt and pepper and mash some more. Chili peppers vary individually in their hotness. So, start with a half of one chili pepper and add to the guacamole to your desired degree of hotness. Be careful handling the peppers; wash your hands thoroughly after handling and do not touch your eyes or the area near your eyes with your hands for several hours.
Keep the tomatoes separate until ready to serve.
Remember that much of this is done to taste because of the variability in the fresh ingredients. Start with this recipe and adjust to your taste.
3 Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. Refrigerate until ready.
4 Just before serving, add the chopped tomato to the guacamole and mix.
Serves 2-4.
Variations
For a very quick "guac" just take a 1/4 cup of salsa and mix it in with your mashed avocados.
You don't need to have tomatoes in your guacamole.
To extend a limited supply of avocados, add either sour cream or cottage cheese to your guacamole dip. Purists may be horrified, but so what? It tastes great. In fact, guac with some cottage cheese added to it is my favorite.
About me
- I'm Harley
- From Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Welcome to my blog. I hope as the days go by and I add things here you will find it interesting ! I am new to blogging and I have not a clue what I am doing so any input will be appreciated. I enjoy reading and music and hope to share that with everyone who reads my blog. I hope my blog gets better as I learn new things. Please feel free to view my other blogs if you enjoy contemporary country music, rock, jazz, soundtracks and a plethera of other music I hope to share. I will be adding files there as well soon and you can find it here:
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- The Art Of BS
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