Vegetarian Enchilada

Votes: 8

Time: 1 hour 40 min.
Complexity: easily
Servings: 6

Echiladas are Mexican stuffed tubes baked in a thick tomato sauce with chili peppers and a layer of cheese. The vegetarian version of this dish uses pinto beans, spinach, and shredded cheese instead of meat in wheat tortillas. Use a mixture of cheddar and pepper jack cheese for a richer, cheesier flavor. The enchiladas are sprinkled with the same cheese mixture before baking. It's delicious, healthy, and quite easy to make. Before serving, drizzle the enchiladas with a mixture of sour cream and lime juice and sprinkle with green onions. Serve with boiled rice.

The recipes use measuring containers with the following volumes:
1 glass (st.) - 250 ml.
3/4 cup (st.) - 180 ml.
2/3 cup (st.) - 160 ml.
1/2 cup (st.) - 125 ml.
1/3 cup (st.) - 80 ml.
1/4 cup (st.) - 60 ml.
1 tablespoon (tbsp) - 15 ml.
1 teaspoon (tsp) - 5 ml.
1/5 teaspoon (tsp) - 1 ml.

Ingredients for the recipe:

Filling and topping

1 package (280 g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 can (425 g) pinto beans, rinsed
110 g grated cheddar (about 1.5 cups)
110 g grated pepper jack cheese (about 1.5 cups)
0.5 cup sour cream
3 green onions, chopped
12 wheat tortillas, 15cm in diameter.
Juice of half a lime
Special equipment: baking dish measuring 22x32 cm.

Tomato sauce

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Half a small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp ancho chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
A large pinch of cayenne pepper
1 can (425 g) of canned tomato puree

Ingredient Substitution Suggestions

We recommend

Cooking the dish according to the recipe:

Preheat oven to 175°C.
Sauce:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper and continue to cook, stirring, until the spices are toasted, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups water, the tomato puree, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly (it should be slightly thinner than marinara sauce), 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

Filling:

Squeeze out all the excess water from the spinach. Place it in a large bowl with the pinto beans and squeeze with your hands to mix and break up the beans slightly. Add half the cheddar and pepper jack cheese, half the sour cream and green onions, and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt and toss to distribute evenly.
Spoon about 1/2 cup tomato sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and spread it out. Place the tortillas on a work surface and spread about 1 teaspoon of tomato sauce on one side of each. Spoon about 1/4 cup of filling lengthwise down the center of each tortilla. Roll each tortilla into a tube and then arrange them in two even rows in the baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the tubes and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Cover the enchilada pan loosely with foil and bake until the cheese is melted and the filling is heated through, about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the enchiladas are heated through, about 10 more minutes.

Topping:

In a small bowl, combine the remaining sour cream, lime juice, and a pinch of salt. Drizzle the enchiladas with the mixture and sprinkle with the remaining green onions.