Alina's Refried Bean and Corn Enchiladas

I decided to make another recipe from the Mitsitam Cafe cookbook, which is a cookbook devoted entirely to American Indian foods. This week I made Refried Bean and Corn Enchiladas, and they were a delicious success!

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but I followed it fairly closely. This recipe brings some classic flavors together: tomatoes, corn, refried beans, peppers, onion, cilantro, garlic, and cheese. It doesn't have a standout ingredient, but everything works well together and in the end all of these commonplace ingredients merge into a fairly distinct flavor.

The recipe calls for regular old tortillas, but I decided to up the stakes and make my own tortillas. Look for my post on my homemade low-carb spinach tortillas within the next few days.

Total time: 2 1/4 hours (but that included making the tortillas)

• 2 ears corn, husked
• 1 1/2 cups refried beans
• 1 oz cheddar cheese
• 1 oz Monterrey jack cheese
• 1/2 cups chopped tomato (for the enchilada filling)
• 1 cup chopped tomato (for the sauce)
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro (for the enchilada filling)
• 1 cup minced, fresh cilantro (for the sauce)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 1/2 cups veggie stock
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tbsp of chili peppers (or some other type of pepper-- choose your own level of spicy)
• 1-2 tbsp canola or olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

To make the filling:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the corn directly on the rack for about 10 minutes. I actually roasted way less corn than the recipe called for and way more than I actually needed. I only used two of them, which meant Adam and I could just eat the rest. Yum!

Remove them and let them cool. Cut the kernels off of the corn and put them in a bowl. Add the beans, cheese, 1/2 cup tomato, 1/3 cup cilantro, salt and pepper.

This made a little more than I needed. The leftovers made a yummy chip dip.

To make the sauce:
Heat the oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, 1 cup of tomato, garlic, and pepper for about 8 minutes.

Add the stock, 1 cup of minced cilantro, salt and pepper. I found that it needed very little salt. Remove it from the heat and blend everything together until smooth. It will be pretty runny at this point.

Turn your stove top back on and simmer it for about 15 minutes, or until it thickens. Set this aside.

To assemble:
Spoon several tablespoons of the filling in a line down the center of each tortilla.

Roll them up and place them seam side down in a 9x13 pan (I lightly sprayed mine with cooking spray just to be safe). Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Once it's baked top it with the enchilada sauce.

That's it! This recipe took a lot of time, and so there's a good chance I won't make it again. It was a delicious and fun experiment though!

Adam's taste rating: 3 ladles

Alina's taste rating: 4 ladles

Healthy rating: 4 ladles

Ease of prep rating: 3 ladles

Overall average: 3.5 ladles