Beef Enchiladas In A Red Chilli Sauce

This is a time consuming recipe but if you love Mexican food as we do it is well worth the effort, I also found I was able to take some shortcuts which worked really well. I only take shortcuts if as in this case I could not get the correct chillies for the sauce, this speeded up the recipe. The dish is full of complex flavours which make you think of the vibrant colours of Mexico, we had some left over which I simply added more cheese and reheated next day and it was still wonderful, the other thing I think is worth mentioning that the black olives which you use as a dressing really work very well and add yet another flavour to this exciting dish.

Ingredients

For the Red Chilli Sauce:

Below is the original recipe for the sauce, my cheats version was a bottle of Maggie Hot Chilli sauce, Maggie is by far the best, to this I added 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of cumin, 1 teaspoon of oregano, 3 tomato paste and 150mL of water then I gently headed it in a pan and then followed the rest of the recipe.

Original Sauce recipe

• 3 ounces dried ancho chillies (about 5), toasted, seeded, deveined, rinsed
• 625 mL boiling water
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml.) vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) tomato paste
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon of ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon of ground coriander

For the Beef Enchiladas

• 675 g lean, boneless beef chuck  (stewing steak), cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 30mL of Lard
• 125 mL finely chopped white onion
• 180 mL beef stock or broth
• 60 mL raisins
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon anise seeds, crushed
• 12 (6-inch or I5-cm) corn tortillas
• 500 mL shredded mild Cheddar cheese
• 180 mL sour cream
• 80 mL sliced, pitted ripe olives
• Chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Prepare Red Chilli Sauce. Makes about 625 mL
   • Place chillies in medium bowl with boiling water; let stand 1 hour.
   • Transfer chillies and soak in water to blender container process until smooth. Transfer puree to 2-quart (2-L) sauce pan; whisk in remaining ingredients.
   • Heat over medium-high heat to boiling; reduce heat to very low. Simmer, covered stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.
2. Sprinkle beef with salt.
3. Heat lard in 10-inch (25-cm) frying pan or wok over medium-high heat until hot.
4. Add the of beef and cook, turning frequently, until brown on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes; remove with slotted spoon to plate. Repeat with remaining beef. Do not be tempted to place it all in at once as rather than browning the beef it will steam it!
5. . Add onion to drippings in skillet; sauté over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes.
6. Return beef to pan, adding the stock, raisins, garlic, cloves, anise seeds and 60 mL of Red Chilli Sauce; mix well.
7. Heat over medium-high heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until beef is very tender this will take 1 to 2 hours.
8. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C)
9. Using 2 forks pull beef into coarse shreds in skillet.
10. Heat remaining Chilli Sauce in medium skillet over medium heat until hot; reduce heat to very low.
11. Dip one tortilla in hot sauce just until limp, a few seconds; then remove, draining off excess sauce.
12. Spread about 3 table-spoons (45 mL) beef mixture down centre of tortilla; roll up and place seam-side-down in 13 x 9 x 2-inch (33 x 23 x 5-cm) baking dish.
13. Repeat with remaining tortillas and beef. Pour remaining sauce evenly over enchiladas.
14. Sprinkle enchiladas evenly with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, about 25 minutes. Just before serving, spoon the sour cream down centre of enchilada and garnish with olives and coriander.