Guatemalan Enchiladas
When you think of enchiladas, you probably think about rolled corn tortillas, stuffed with chicken, cheese, or beef, smothered with a thick sauce and covered in melted cheese. In Guatemalan cuisine think more of a Mexican tostada, open faced and layered with different flavors and textures. The crisp bite of the tostada, the tang of tomato, slightly spicy meat, the earthy taste of beet/pickled veggie salad and the creamy finish of cotija cheese and hard boiled egg slice.Visit our National Hispanic Heritage Month post – https://thecultureties.com/national-hispanic-heritage-month/.
Ingredients
- 25 store bought corn tostadas
- 3 tomatoes
- ½ white onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tbs oil canola or olive
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ head of white cabbage julienned
- 4 carrots julienned
- green beans a dozen or so, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- red beets boiled and grated
- 1 cup apple cider or rice wine vinegar
- 2 lbs. ground beef 80/20
- ½ onion finely diced
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 tbs canola /olive oil
- 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper – more if you like spicy.
- Lettuce – whole leaves washed and patted dry. You can use Iceberg or Romaine.
- 5 boiled eggs sliced on the cross section
- 1 cup Cotjia cheese crumbled
- 1 bunch parsley diced
Instructions
- Chop the tomato, white onion, and crush the garlic. Add all, with the bay leaf to a frying pan over medium heat with the oil and cook until tomatoes have softened. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaf and allow mixture to cool.
- Boil a large pot filled with about 3 quarts of water, lightly salted. Once boiled, shut off the heat and add in the cabbage, carrots and green beans. Allow them to blanch for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the water and transfer to a large bowl. Combine with the grated beets, vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and place in refrigerator.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the oil and ground beef, brown. Remove the meat from the pan once cooked. Into the meat drippings add the diced onion and tomato along with the cayenne pepper. Cook over medium heat until the tomato has broken down, re-introduce the cooked beef and combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble the Enchiladas, cover a tostada with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by a lettuce leaf, then the beet and cabbage pickle, a thin layer of the spiced meat mixture and top off with a couple of slices of boiled egg, cotija cheese and chopped parsley.
- Roll up your sleeves and enjoy!!
Notes
Make the vegetable and beet salad the day ahead to allow the full flavors to come out.
Leave a Reply