Growing up, my mother would often makes tacos at home and she used to bring me to a Mexican Restaurant in Jakarta called Amigos, which I loved! My mother is pretty much obsessed with Mexican food (and SO AM I!) because she went to school in El Paso which was only a 10-minute drive to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Authentic Mexican food was easily accessible to her.

Just a few weeks ago, we stumbled upon Los Guerreros Mexican Food Products, a Mexican grocery store in Vancouver (3317 Kingsway) and I thought it would be great if we can make our own enchiladas. The owner was so nice! She suggested we buy a few things, including Lizano salsa sauce – a staple ingredient on Mexican dishes. Let me walk you through the steps on how to make  awesome Homemade Beef Enchiladas.

 

HOMEMADE BEEF ENCHILADAS

Yield: 6-8 servings    |    Prep Time: 10 minutes    |    Cook Time:  1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Savoury and cheesy. This dish hits the spot!

INGREDIENTS:

1lb ground beef

1 medium onion

3 tbsp garlic

20-25 corn tortillas

1/2 cup cilantro

1 can enchilada sauce (Las Palmas, 28oz)

5 1/2 tbsp Salsa Lizano

1 can Chipotle salsa (San Marcos, 7oz)

1 1/2 bags shredded Tex Mex cheese

Sour cream (optional)

1 long Pyrex dish

1 square Pyrex dish

DIRECTIONS:

(I slightly modified Chef John’s directions to better suit my preference)

1. Preheat over to 350 Celsius.
2. Add beef to a medium-size frying pan. Cook until slightly browning.
3. Add chopped onion and stir until the beef and onion are cooked.
4. Add in garlic and mix well.
5. Add Lizano salsa, 2 1/2 tbsp chipotle salsa, and 1 cup of the enchilada sauce. This will make the beef  moist.
6. Keep stirring until the beef is well done and all the ingredients are mixed well. Don’t let it get dry! Remove from heat.
7. On a Pyrex, dish pour approximately 3/4 cups of the enchilada sauce to the bottom of the pan and cover the whole bottom. This is to avoid burning the tortilla when they are in the oven.
8. Put some beef mixture to a tortilla, roll, and place in the pan. Repeat this to all tortilla until the Pyrex containers are full (one layer only).
9. Use the rest of the enchilada sauce to cover the top of the rolled tortillas.
10. Sprinkle cilantro on top of the rolled tortillas.
11. Add the rest of the chipotle salsa if you like spicy food. If not, use your judgement of how much to put on.
12. Don’t be shy with the cheese. Add a thick layer of cheese.
13. Cover the Pyrex containers with aluminium foil and bake for 10 minutes.
14. After 10 minutes, uncover the containers and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until all cheese melted.

It’s all done! Serve it with sour cream and sprinkle some more cilantro on top. Enjoy!!

Credit: I got my inspiration from RecipeTin Eats (https://www.recipetineats.com/beef-enchiladas/)