Enchilada Sauce and Arroz Rojo
The limits of the written recipe are so apparent to me lately when I watch cooking videos. In the early aughts it was Rachael Ray who taught me how to properly dice an onion as I watched on television every afternoon before my 6 hour shift at a sourdough bakery in the food court of a mall in San Jose. These days I scroll through Instagram, sometimes Youtube, very rarely TikTok, and can watch multiple cooking videos in the time it took me to watch Ray prepare a meal in 30 minutes. Video feels more intimate because you can actually see all that goes into preparing the food. I’m thinking specifically of how a recipe instruction like“stir water and flour until a shaggy dough is formed” — a detail that used to give me pause until I worked with dough enough times — becomes crystal clear when the visual is right there. Where written recipe instructions are stagnant, a video is unfixed to the boundaries of the written word.
I’m thinking about how I can improve this blog I launched a mere month ago, which at this point definitely means introducing some video and process shots. I was feeling somewhat bound to the truly terrible lighting in my window-less kitchen recently until I remembered the existence of ring lights and small table lamps. I also usually just literally forget to stop and take process pictures, which I think we can all blame on the mental fog that comes with living through a pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember shit anymore.
There are two savory recipes this week — enchilada sauce and arroz rojo. In both I omitted measurements for seasonings and the aromatics because I think measurements for things like ground cumin or garlic cloves for example reinforce those written limitations and I wanted to try writing them in a new way. I will most likely be adapting this for all the savory recipes on the blog going forward, so definitely let me know if this is a change you’re happy with or not. Remembering to taste as you go when cooking is one of the best ways to make good food.
In my family arroz rojo is called Mexican rice, which to the people I’m related to just means rice cooked in tomato puree and water or stock. Whatever you call it, it makes a nice side dish. You can make enchilada sauce in about 15 minutes by adding ground chile powder , tomato paste, and stock to a roux in lieu of this dried chiles method. Ultimately though I’m glad I took the extra 20 minutes or so to work with dried ancho for this. I sort of freestyled with this recipe but I pulled bits and pieces from Mely Martinez of Mexico in My Kitchen. I didn’t feel like making a whole thing of enchiladas though, so I ended up making basically a diy Enchirito, Taco Bell’s burrito + enchilada hybrid that was always my go-to order. All you need to know are the ingredients of an Enchirito in order to make it: 1 large tortilla, whatever filling you like (I used arroz rojo and mashed pinto beans in mine — at Taco Bell they use ground beef and pinto beans), which is then rolled, covered with enchilada sauce and grated cheddar and microwaved for about 45 seconds or until the cheese has barely melted like in this photo.
Why did Taco Bell remove it from their menus, and when will they stop being cowards and bring it back? That barely melted cheddar cheese in a pool of enchilada sauce that, to me, was signature of the Enchirito hit the same way I remember it.
ENCHILADA SAUCE
Ingredients you’ll need:
2 dried ancho chiles, or guajillo chile
Garlic cloves, peeled
2 small vine tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
2 tablespoons vegetable or other neutral oil, or butter
2 tablespoons corn masa flour, such as Maseca brand, or all-purpose flour
1 cup vegetable stock or water
Ground cumin
Chili powder
Mexican oregano
Salt and pepper
Tools you’ll need:
2-3 quart saucepan
Small (quarter) baking sheet pan
Fine mesh strainer or colander
Blender
Preheat oven to 420F and line a quarter sheet pan with aluminum foil. Cut stems off the chiles and remove the fibrous seeds if using anchos; guajillo or other chile seeds can remain or you can remove those as well. Place chiles in the saucepan and fill about halfway with water. Bring to a gentle boil on medium-high heat, then lower heat to medium-low. Let chiles simmer for about 15 minutes until they look soft and have rehydrated. Drain water and let chiles cool, about 10 minutes.
While the chiles are simmering, roast the garlic and tomatoes in the oven on the prepared sheet pan for 15 minutes. You’re looking for the tomato skin to have softened and blistered, and the garlic to have browned a bit. Let tomatoes and garlic cool on the baking sheet, about 10 minutes.
Transfer chiles, roasted tomatoes, and garlic to a blender. Add 1/2 cup stock or water and blend until smooth, about 45 seconds. Set the same saucepan from earlier over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, other neutral oil, or butter. Heat the oil just until it becomes shimmery, or the butter until it has melted, then add 2 tablespoons corn flour or all-purpose flour. Whisk flour into the oil to make a roux. Once the roux begins to thicken, whisk in 1 cup of water or stock. Add your seasonings now. Transfer the blended chile mixture to the saucepan, adding more stock or water if the sauce is too thick, and whisk to combine. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings if desired. Over medium-low heat, gently simmer enchilada sauce for 20 minutes. Let sauce cool slightly if using it to roll tortillas for enchiladas, otherwise the sauce will be ready to use in other dishes (ladling some over a big burrito, for e.g.) once done simmering.
ARROZ ROJO (Spanish rice, Mexican rice, red rice, etc)
Ingredients you’ll need:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or other neutral oil
1 cup long grain rice
8 ounce can tomato puree
16 ounces (2 cups; an additional 1/2 cup or so may be needed) water or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Ground cumin
Dried Mexican oregano
Tools you’ll need:
Large (9-10 inch) skillet with lid
Wooden spoon
Measuring cup if additional liquid is needed
To start, rinse your rice. I just place rice in a fine mesh sieve and run it under cold water. In a large skillet heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat; add the rinsed rice and stir. Toast the rice, stirring constantly, about 1-2 minutes or until the rice begins to brown. Add the can of tomato puree to the skillet, then fill the can with water or stock twice and add to the rice. You may need about 1/2 cup additional water or stock if the rice isn’t fully covered by liquid. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried Mexican oregano and bring rice to a boil.
Let liquid continue to boil for 5 minutes, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook rice for 20 minutes, checking liquid levels and stirring around the 10 minute mark. Now is also a good time to taste test and adjust your seasoning if needed. I usually start off with about 1 teaspoon of each seasoning; for the salt and pepper, it’s always to taste. Add more water or stock it if is evaporating too quickly at this point, and let rice continue cooking. Once liquid has fully evaporated and rice is tender, it’s done.