This a deeply flavored sauce for your enchiladas that takes about 30 minutes to prepare.
Enough for a batch of 6 enchiladas
INGREDIENTS
- ancho chili: 1 whole dried chili
- tomato puree (British: passata): 500g/500mL/2 cups
- onion: .5 of medium onion, peeled and cut in 2 slices, root to tip
- garlic: 1 whole clove, peeled, crushed flat
- salt: .5 tsp
- dried oregano: 1 tsp
- cumin, 1 tsp
- lime, juice of half of a lime
- sugar: 2 tsp
STEPS
- Heat a medium-sized sauce pan over medium-high heat. (6 out of 10). Separately, prepare a large cup of almost boiling temperature water.
- Toasting: Once the sauce pan is heated, toast the whole, dried chili on each side for 30-45 seconds. Remove the chili and add to the hot water. Add the onion slices and garlic to the pan. Char for 4 minutes, turning once, then remove from heat. Keep the saucepan aside. After the chili has soaked for 5-10 minutes, remove from the water, remove and throw away the top stem end and the seeds inside. Roughly chop the chili.
- Blend: Add tomato puree, toasted ingredients, salt, oregano, and cumin to a blender. (Optional: if you find the toasted chilies make the sauce too bitter, add the 1 tsp of sugar to mellow out). Start the blender slow, and then increase to higher speed for 3 minutes total.
- Cook: Add blender contents into the sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, then squeeze in lime juice.
- Use or Store: Use immediately for my Quick Enchiladas, Classic Enchiladas or store in the fridge for a few days–this is also great spooned over omelettes and scrambled eggs.