Until recently I’d never eaten enchiladas but they’re always on the menu in our favourite Brighton veggie place, Iydea, in the North Laine and Lee usually chooses them. I thought that if I could recreate them at home then it would be a healthy meal that we could both enjoy together and I wouldn’t have to make separate dishes for us. They’re also great for batch cooking ahead of time to have a few meals ready for the week.
I looked for recipes online but no single one suited how I wanted to make them so I kind of made them up as I went along – and they were a great success!
If you haven’t had enchiladas before then you might not know what they are or how they taste. I certainly didn’t until a couple of weeks ago! They come from Mexico and are a bit like a spicy lasagne. In fact, I think they’re much easier to make than lasagne!
I’m sure you can make them with meat but I love beans and as Lee is a vegetarian it makes sense to make them as a veggie recipe. In fact, they can easily be made vegan if you use vegan cheese on top.
They are made with corn tortillas, such as those by El Paso that are in the Mexican section of the supermarket. The recipe below is quite spicy but you can easily increase the heat by adding more chilli powder and chopped chillis. It just depends on your taste.
If you make more enchiladas than you need then they can be stored in the fridge for a few days and reheat really well. They can also be frozen, and then reheated when thawed.
Before we get to the recipe I will just say that these don’t look pretty when you serve them! I use a spatula and large spoon to remove them from the dish. It can stick to the bottom of the dish, but you can either use greaseproof paper or simply a decent layer of passata on the bottom. If you do line your dish with greaseproof paper to make it easier to clean then make sure you don’t scoop up the paper with the enchiladas!
I recreate the Iydea experience when I serve these enchiladas. I cut up some baby potatoes (or sweet potatoes) into wedges and bake in the oven with olive oil or spray fat. Then I make up some Asian slaw with julienne carrots, sliced cabbage, chopped spring onions and a spoonful of mayo with a splash of sesame oil. Then I add a spoonful of houmous on the side and sprinkle some seeds on top. It’s delicious!
How to make the enchiladas healthier
I would say that these are already quite healthy as they contain beans, tomatoes and mushrooms – all really packed with nutrients.
If you’re trying to restrict your carbs then you could arrange the tortillas differently. Make this like a lasagne with a couple of layers sandwiched with tortillas. I reckon you could just use two instead of four, which would halve the carbs.
If I’m making this just for myself then I don’t sprinkle huge quantities of cheese on the top. Cheese is a great source of protein and calcium, but you need to be careful about your portion size. It’s a key component of the enchiladas, and in fact many recipes add them to the tortillas after you add the bean mix and before wrapping up. I find though that adding cheese to the top only gives it the perfect flavour balance.
Recipe photos
I thought it might be useful to show a few photos – although once again I must stress I’m not a food blogger and this recipe doesn’t look pretty!
Here’s how it looks in the pan – nice and saucy!
When it comes to assembling them, place a spoonful of bean mix on the tortilla and then wrap up, placing seam-down in the casserole dish.
This recipe is enough for four tortillas, for four people. Here they are all lined up in the dish.
Add any leftover bean mixture and then top with passata. When you see pics of enchiladas online there is more tortilla exposed but I prefer them Iydea-style. Then you can cut them as you please when serving. You can make them long, square, whatever size or shape you want! This shows them ready for the oven.
Bean Enchiladas
- 500 g passata
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 tsp chilli powder (to taste, mild or medium)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp chopped chillis
- 800 g any beans (two tins, e.g. borlotti, cannelini, kidney, black beans)
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4-6 mushrooms, chopped
- 4 corn tortillas
- 0.5 cup grated cheese (cheddar or mozarella or mixture of both)
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the onions and garlic
Boil some water in a kettle
Add the mushrooms to the pan along with a splash of boiled water
Add the cumin, paprika and chilli powder and stir through
Drain the tins of beans
Add the beans to the pan when the mushrooms are soft
Put half the passata into a jug and stir in the oregano – put to one side for later
Add half of the passata from the carton into the pan and stir through, adding a splash of boiled water. Add the chopped chillis.
I mash up some of the beans as it makes the sauce really saucy
Keep stirring and add more of the passata from the carton and boiled water to keep it nice and wet
It probably takes around 10-15 mins to get it to a nice consistency with a thick (but not too thick!) sauce
Turn off the heat and start assembling the enchiladas
I lined a casserole dish with greaseproof paper as the enchiladas can stick
Spread some of the passata in the jug onto the bottom of the casserole dish
Spoon some of the bean mixture onto a tortilla, wrap it up and place in the dish, seam side down. They’re not easy to handle as the bean mixture is very wet, but it needs to be.
Repeat for all four tortillas so they’re lined up in a row
If you have any bean mixture left, spread it over the tortillas
Then spread the last of the passata over the bean mixture / tortillas. Ideally you need to cover all of the tortillas so that they don’t dry out in the oven.
Bake the enchiladas in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove and sprinkle the grated cheese on top. Place back in the oven and serve when the cheese has melted.
Serve with salad, coleslaw and oven-baked baby potatoes or sweet potatoes
The enchiladas can be stored in the fridge and are lovely reheated.
They can also be frozen. Thaw before reheating in the microwave.
