Hi guys! This is a very hearty and delightful recipe that my mum makes. It is a pretty popular variation of the standard enchiladas in India and it’s something I have grown up eating and so it is very dear to me. After a long hard day of work, I just want something easy, delicious and comforting and this recipe is just that.

Indo-Fusion Enchiladas uses a standard enchilada sauce, you can get away with any store-bought variation to save cooking time or cook up a super easy fresh sauce in a jiffy. I always prefer the latter because I try and stick to a Jain compassionate diet at home so prefer making everything from scratch. Also, the sauce is seriously so easy and quick to make- I really have no excuse.

The stuffing or the filling of the enchiladas is where the fusion comes in. The filling uses Indian spices and crumbled paneer with beans! It might sound weird, but believe me, the soft crumbled paneer, cooked beans and the spices work extremely well together and are perfectly well-balanced.

Finally, for this recipe I always use the individual baking trays from Corningware. You can totally use any other glass baking tray you may have but I find these very convenient to assemble, serve and clean-up. It is worth the small investment because I use the individual trays for so many other recipes.

Indo-Fusion Enchiladas

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the Enchilada Sauce:

I use this super quick and minimal recipe from Cookie + Kate for the enchilada sauce.

Recipe Notes:

The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of red chili powder, I have found that to be too spicy since I get my chili powder from the Indian store. If your spice tolerance is low or if your chili powder is spicy like mine, then reduce it to 1 tea spoon.

To make it Jain, replace vegetable broth with home-made veggie broth or the same quantity of water.

For the Filling:

1 (15oz) canned kidney beans. You can also use dried kidney beans by cooking them overnight.

1-2 Thai bird’s eye chili peppers, finely chopped  

2-inch piece ginger, grated or finely minced

1/2 cup crumbled paneer (I usually microwave the paneer for 15 seconds to soften and then crumble with my hands)

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp tajin powder (or replace with salt and 1 tbsp freshly squeezed of lime juice)

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

5 tbsp of enchilada sauce

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup grated cheese, combination of cheddar and pepper jack

Pre-heat oven to 425 F

For serving: Whole Wheat or Corn Tortillas

Directions

1. Add all the above ingredients, except the cheese and olive oil in a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Stir the mixture with your hands while crumbling the paneer and squashing some of the kidney beans. You want the mixture to look slightly mushy. At this point, you can taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning.
3. Heat some olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the mushy mixture and let it cook for 4-5 minutes on on a low to medium flame. After cooking, remove from flame and set aside to cool. If the mixture is too dry then feel free to add some more sauce. Note: The mixture has to be of a very slight wet-mushy consistency. You don’t want to add too much sauce that it gets very wet/gravy like.
4. In individual baking trays, pour some enchilada sauce.
5. Assemble the wraps with 2-3 dollops of the mixture and roll and set aside on the tray
6. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the trays.
7. Top with grated cheese
8. Bake at 425 F for 15-20 minutes until the cheese melts and bubbles up.
9. Once baked, remove and cool for a few minutes and then serve.

Recipe Notes:

Baking time may vary so always keep an eye on your oven. Our oven is large so always takes longer to cook.

Skip the ginger if following a strict Jain diet.

This recipe can easily be doubled by simply doubling up on all the ingredients.

This recipe unfortunately is not vegan friendly. The taste of crumbled paneer is what makes it so special. You can always replace it with tofu and vegan cheese but there will most certainly be a change in taste and texture.

I hope you give this recipe a shot and please feel free to leave your comments or suggestions in the comment box below. Enjoy xxx