Enchiladas

This is a loose recipe because you can make this dish many ways. The only things that stay the same are the enchilada sauce and the assembly method. Everything else can be improvised to match what you have on hand. Some of you will find this liberating, and some of you will wish for more specific instructions. I typically have smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic powder on hand because of the game-changing veggie burgers, so those are the spices that show up here, too. But if you're without those things, you can certainly improvise. Once you have dried chiles and tortillas in your pantry, this is a very good pantry meal to make with the vegetables you happen to have on hand.

1. Enchilada Sauce 
In a medium bowl with very hot water soak several dried ancho peppers and several dried poblano peppers. Set aside for 20 minutes. Meanwhile peel 2-3 cloves garlic, and pop them in the jar of a blender. Add 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds, 1 tsp toasted coriander seeds, a little salt and pepper. When the peppers have soaked, remove seeds (if you prefer less spicy) and definitely remove stems. Blend with a small amount of the water, adding more water until you have a sauce the consistency of slightly runny ketchup. It will smell very spicy, but when it bakes much of that raw chile intensity subsides, and the sauce will thicken, too.

Pro tip: make double what you need, freeze the other half with the name and date on it. You will have enchiladas much more quickly the second time around.

 2. Prepare the black beans and silverbeet (swiss chard). You can do any filling here. I've made caramelised onion and butternut squash enchiladas  before. I typically stick with two key flavours though, one of which is a lighter vegetable (onion or leafy green) and the other one is a heavier vegetable (beans or pumpkin-type ingredient). Some of that depends on your climate and how hearty you'd like your meal to be. 

Separate the stems from the greens of the silverbeet. Heat some oil in a skillet, and sauté the stems on medium heat until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add the greens, some salt and pepper, and continue to cook until it's done to your liking.

For the black beans, I typically use canned beans, which I'll drain and then lightly blitz in a food processor with some spices such as salt, pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder (skip if you don't have any), and 1 tsp smoked paprika. You want to mash the beans a little and not have a puree. It's not a big deal as to what spices you use as long as they go with the spirit of the dish, ie, are appropriate to Mexican cooking. Transfer to a bowl with a spoon for the assembly step.

3. Assemble and bake. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Locate your baking dish, and pour a little enchilada sauce in it to lightly cover the base of the dish. This will keep the underside moist. Heat each tortilla in a clean skillet for 10 seconds on each side, and then stack them in a pile for filling. You will learn how many tortillas you need for the size of your baking dish, but if you're not sure, start with 6-8 tortillas.

In the middle of each tortilla add a little of the bean mix, then top with the greens. Roll up and place in the baking dish seam-side-down. Repeat with the remaining mixture until all tortillas are used up and the baking dish has a single layer of rolled tortillas.

Pour more enchilada sauce over, bearing in mind the more you use, the spicier the final dish will be. Start with less if you're not sure. Cover with grated cheese if using, and bake for 50 minutes. When done, serve and top with diced avocado.