Mexican Rice & Chorizo Enchilada

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Make this ahead of time and pop it in the oven when it's time to eat. Spend the time with your guests and family and still serve a hearty delicious meal.

Prep time: 40 min

Cook time: 45 min

Serves: 4 - 6

Ingredients

Sauce

• 4 dried ancho peppers (remove stems and seeds)

• 4 dried guajillo peppers (remove stems and seeds)

• 4 dried chiles de arbol (remove stems and seeds)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 yellow onion roughly chopped

• 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped

• 1/2 tsp sugar

• 1/2 cup chicken stock plus a little more

• 1 tsp coarse sea salt and more to taste

Mexican Rice

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 2 white onions finely chopped

• 6 garlic cloves finely chopped

• 2 bell peppers (pick your favourite colours)

• 2 jalapeños

• 2 cup basmati (long grain) white rice

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 cup chicken stock

• 425g can tomato sauce

• chopped cilantro for garnish

• 1 tsp salt

• salt and pepper to taste

Enchiladas

• 3 - 4 links chorizo sausage

• 10 - 12 tortillas (corn or wheat)

• Chopped queso fresco

• Grated mozzarella

Directions

Make the sauce

• Toast de-seeded & de stemmed chill peppers in a dry heated pan over medium heat. Because these peppers are of different sizes, remove as they start to darken.

• Soak them for 15 min in hot water.

• Fry up onions until translucent. Remove and let cool

• Add garlic until they become fragrant. Remove and let cool.

• Add garlic, ginger, sugar, salt and drained chilis to food processor

• Pulse the mixture and add chicken stock one tbsp at a time to get it as smooth but as thick as possible.

• Put mixture and 1/2 cup of chicken stock in sauce pot and simmer for 15 min. Stir occasionally

• Add more chicken stock if sauce starts to burn and to consistency of your liking.

• This sauce though delicious, can get a little bitter and acidic if you let any of the ingredients burn. I added butter along with more chicken stock to mellow the acidity down.

• Let cool and strain this sauce if you prefer a smoother texture. (my preference)

Make the rice

1. Wash and drain rice.

2. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté chopped onions, bell peppers and jalapeños for 1 min. Add garlic until the onions become translucent.

3. Add rice and sauté until it turns golden brown (getting to this colour helps prevent the rice from getting soggy)

4. Add cumin, salt, tomato sauce, chicken stock and stir.

5. Bring the mixture to boil, reduce to simmer until the rice and cover pot for about 15 - 20 min until rice is just cooked.

6. Turn off heat. Add chopped cilantro, fluff rice with a fork and cover for another 5 min.

7. Remove meat from the chorizo sausage links

8. Add meat into a large hot frying pan and break it up as you brown it.

9. Add half of your rice to the frying pan. Mix

Final Touch

1. Remove meat from the chorizo sausage links.

2. Add meat into large frying pan and break it up as you brown it.

3. Add half your rice to the frying pan and gently mix.

4. Toast your tortillas on a pan on low heat until they are pliable.

5. Dip tortillas in the sauce.

6. Wrap the meat & rice filling in tortillas.

7. Place filled tortillas in a baking pan snugly next to each other.

8. When ready to serve, drizzle some of the sauce on, and broil in the oven until cheese is melty and a little browned.

9. Sprinkle both cheeses on top.

10. Garnish this beauty with cilantro and serve with the extra sauce on the side, the rest of the rice & tortilla chips. guacamole and sour cream.

Zhuzh it up

• Air dry your washed rice for a couple of hours on a pan or paper if you have the time. It will reduce the splatter when you fry it up.

• Replace the chorizo with any other seasoned meat or veggies

These delicious recipes were adapted from Lisa Bryan's Mexican Rice and Mike Hultquist's Chicken Enchiladas