Unless you are an aficionado on Mexican food, some of the different dishes can be a little confusing - enchiladas, chilapitas, quesadillas, gorditas, chilaquiles, sopes, tamales, tostadas, empanadas. One thing is for sure, each and every one of them will be packing a serious amount of flavour, I guess that's why traditional Mexican cuisine is protected by UNESCO.

Enchiladas are filled corn tortillas rolled up like little cigars, smothered in sauce, scattered with cheese and baked in the oven. They are really easy to make without too much fuss or a long list of ingredients, just a little prior preparation. The sauce is the key and is the longest part of the process. There are loads of different enchilada sauce recipes, this one works really well and is pretty straightforward. The recipe is for 12 tortillas so you can serve 3 tortillas each, for a main course meal, serve some rice on the side. My recipe for Mexican Green Rice is lovely (see below), but plain rice is fine if you don't have time.

This filling in the recipe is easily interchangeable; if you wanted to make it vegetarian you could use sweetcorn, cooked potato and black beans, pork loin would also work well and you could even use prawns.

Chicken Enchiladas
Serves 4
For the sauce:
3 x Fresh Tomatoes
3 x Cloves of Garlic
½tsp Cumin Seeds
1 x White Onion, peeled and cut into quarters
3 x Whole Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
3tsp Adodo Sauce (the sauce the chillies come in)
1tsp Dried Oregano
1tsp Salt
250ml Essential Cuisine Chicken Stock

For the tacos:
2 x Chicken Breasts
500ml Essential Cuisine Chicken Stock
½ White Onion, Finely Diced
100g Mature Cheddar Cheese, grated or just chopped into chunks
12 x Komali Taquera Tortillas (soft tacos)

For the topping:
100g Mature Cheddar Cheese, grated
Sour Cream
Diced Fresh Tomatoes
Chopped Coriander
Guacamole
Tajin Lime Pepper Seasoning

You will need a crockery or glass lasagna style dish to bake the enchiladas in.
Any one of our range of El Yucateco Chilli Sauces served alongside will give the chilli heads the fix they crave.

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C
2. Dry roast the tomatoes and onion in the oven for around 15 minutes. The skins should have blistered and have some charring on them.
3. Poach the chicken breasts (whole) in 500ml of chicken stock for around 15 minutes, you just want them to cook through. If you want, you can add in some chopped onion, a few coriander stalks, a couple of cloves but don't sweat it if you've not got them. Leave them on the side until they are cool enough to handle and then pull them apart into rough strips.
4. In a food processor, tip in the roasted tomatoes and onion along with 250ml of chicken stock, garlic, oregano, chipotles with adobo sauce, salt, cumin seeds and blitz until you have a smooth paste. Pour this paste into a saucepan and gently simmer for around 10 minutes.
5. Now you are ready to construct the enchiladas so have everything to hand - the baking dish, the cooked chicken, the diced onion, the grated cheese, your enchilada sauce.
6. Heat up a non-stick pan and cook each taco for around 20-30 seconds on each side. Remove from the pan and drench one side in the sauce. On the sauce coated side, pile on some cooked chicken, a little diced onion and some grated cheese. Roll it up and place in the baking dish. Repeat this process, cooking the tortillas and filling them until you have all of them lined up in your baking tray.
7. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of your rolled up tortillas and bake them in the oven for around 15 minutes. After 6 or 7 minutes, scatter the top with grated cheese and continue to bake until the cheese has melted.
8. Using a spatula, remove the enchiladas (three at a time) to your serving plates, drizzle with some sour cream, scatter with diced tomatoes, sprinkle a little Tajin seasoning over the top and serve with a dollop of guacamole on top.

If you like a little more chilli heat, have your favourite bottle of El Yucateco chilli sauce to hand. It's also nice to have a few crunchy tortilla chips on the side, our Blanco Nino tortilla chips are quite simply the best pre-packed tortilla chips I've ever tasted.  

I'm trying to find the words to describe how insanely tasty these are, but failing, so you will just have to try this recipe yourself.

This recipe is totally GLUTEN FREE.

Ingredients for Ben’s Mexican Green Rice
Serves 4

1 x Can Sliced Poblano Peppers
200g x Dr Nature Basmati Rice
½ Medium Onion, peeled and chopped
1 x Clove Garlic, peeled and chopped
450ml Chicken Stock
4tbsps Chopped Fresh Coriander
2tbsps Rapeseed Oil

1. Boil the kettle and mix up the chicken or veg stock.
2. Wash the rice thoroughly under running water and leave it to soak for 20 mins.
3. Blitz up half the Poblano Chillies, half an onion, a garlic clove and a big bunch of coriander with a touch of chicken stock. You can mix in the remaining poblano chillies through the cooked rice at the end.
4. Heat up a small pan, add some oil and fry the rice for a minute. Now add in your green paste, the rest of the chicken stock and a pinch of salt. Bung a lid on and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until all the stock has been absorbed.

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