Enchiladas with Salsa Verde(Green Sauce), Spicy Black Beans and Mexican Salsa:

We both love Mexican food (I know I've said this a lot already..hehe) and whenever we go to authentic Mexican restaurants, we both order Enchiladas topped with the green sauce. This sauce is so much spicier and tastier than the Red sauce.

Green sauce is the name of several different sauces containing mainly herbs, namely the Italian salsa verde, the French sauce verte

The basic recipe is probably from the Near East and, as such, is probably at least 2,000 years old. Roman legionaries brought it to Italy, from where it was exported to France and Germany. Evidence suggests that it was introduced in Frankfurt am Main by the Italian trading families Bolongaro and Crevenna around 1700. The German variant uses a different mix of herbs, since Mediterranean herbs were not available in Germany at the time.

Green sauces are common in Mexican and Mexican-American cuisines. The basis of the green sauce (known as salsa verde) is either tomatillos, serrano chiles, coriander leaves (also known as cilantro), or some combination of these. It may be warm, as in a chile verde, or cold, as a condiment. In Mexican-American cuisine, a green sauce is frequently used as a dip for tortilla chips. Most Tex- Mex restaurants serve enchiladas and burritos topped with this green sauce, also called Salsa Verde.

The recipes for the Green Sauce, Spicy Black Beans and the Mexican Salsa are from the book “Red Hot: A Cook’s Encyclopedia of Fire and Spice” by Jenni Fleetwood. Two other recipes from this book are Red Enchilada Sauce and Egg and Green Lentils curry with Ginger and Chillies.

Cheese & Onion Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

Tomatillo Chile Salsa: (Salsa Verde/Green Sauce)

You will need:

4 medium tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 jalapenos, stemmed
1/2 medium onion, peeled and quartered
2 garlic clove, peeled
1 handful fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds
Kosher salt

Bring a pot of water to a boil; add the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tomatillos are soft. Drain and cool slightly, then put them in a blender. Add the cilantro, lime juice, and cumin. Puree for a few seconds to blend, and then pour in about a 1/4 cup of water and process to a coarse puree; taste and season with a generous pinch of salt. You should have about 2 cups of this salsa verde.

Cheese & Onion Enchiladas

You will need:

6 Flour Tortillas (store-bought)
1 cup grated Sharp Cheddar cheese (white or yellow)
1 ½ cups chopped yellow onion

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take the flour tortillas and lightly toast each one on a hot pan, till piping hot. Take one tortilla, place 3 tbsp of chopped onions on one end and place grated cheese over the onions. Tightly roll and place the enchilada crease side down in a greased baking dish. Repeat with all the tortillas.

Pour Salsa Verde over the rolled tortillas, cover completely. Spread remaining grated cheese on top.

Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot with Spicy Black Beans. You can top the Enchiladas with a dab of sour cream and chopped coriander.

You can substitute the cheese with veggies of your choice, cube the veggies, sauté till half done and roll in tortillas with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes to let veggies cook through completely.

Spicy Black Beans

You will need:

2 cups canned Black Beans
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
Salt and black pepper

In a pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic, and bay leaf and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the beans and toss. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Mexican Salsa:

You will need:

1 fresh hot green chilli chopped

1 clove Garlic

½ red onion coarsely chopped

3 Spring onions (scallions) chopped

½ cup fresh coriander leaves

1 ½ lb Ripe Tomatoes

1-3 Canned green chillies

1 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Lemon juice

Salt to taste

3 tbsp Water

In a food processor or blender combine the fresh chilli, garlic, red onions, scallions and coriander leaves. Process until everything is finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse till the mixture is well combined and still chunky. Taste for seasoning. Let stand 30 minutes before serving with Tortilla chips or along side Enchiladas.

I still haven't got a chance to take a picture of the cook book, will surely do it the next time I post a recipe from there :)

Akki Rotti with Ennegayi (Steamed Rice Rotis with Eggplant Curry)

Akki Rotti is a specialty in Karnataka. Akki is the Kannada translation for Rice. There are two ways to make Akki Rotti, one is to use rice flour in a dough like form with chopped onions and chillies, patted onto pans and roasted to a crisp served with various condiments. Another way is to steam the rice flour in a open pan with water, made in to a dough and then rolled like chapathis with a rolling pin. This tastes a lot different from the former. But this doesn't stop either from being a household favourite for any kannadiga.

Akki Rotti

You will need:

1 ¾ cups Rice flour

¼ cup Whole Wheat flour

1 tsp Salt

3 Cups Water

1 tsp Oil

Mix wheat flour and rice flour. Bring water to a boil. Add salt and oil. Place wooden spoon (handle side in the water) in the middle and add the flour in the centre to form a peak. Do not stir.Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir quickly with the help of the wooden spoon to make a lump less soft dough. While its still hot transfer to a lightly oiled plate or surface and knead well. The more you knead the easier it will be roll into rottis.

Make small balls and flatten it using a rolling pan. Dredge in rice flour when dough gets sticky or hard to roll. Toast on a hot pan on both sides. Serve hot with Ennegayi.

Ennegayi or Guthavankaya

Ennegayi is in Kannada and Guthavankaya is in Telugu. Ennegayi is famous in North Karnataka as well as in the coffee estates of serene Coorg down south. Guthavankaya is the typical Andhra favourite. There are many ways to make this dish and whatever the method, the end result should be a spicy lip smacking Eggplant curry.

Ennegayi is usually had with Jowar Rottis, but the curry goes well with almost any such rotti.

My mom-in-law taught me how to make this curry.

You will need:

6-8 Small Egg plants, washed and wiped dry

2 tsp White Sesame seeds

2 tsp Corriander seeds

6-7 dry red chillies

¼ cup Grated fresh coconut

2 tbsp Fried Gram (Hurgadale)

4 tbsp Oil

1 tsp Mustard seeds

Few curry leaves

A pinch Asafetida (hing)

Salt to taste

2 Cups Water

Cut Eggplants in a X in the centre till the stem, so that the eggplant remains intact as a whole. Dry toast the sesame seeds, coriander seeds and the dry red chillies. Cool and grind to a fine powder in a blender. Add the grated coconut and fried gram and make a smooth paste using water as required.

Fill the cut eggplants with a little of the ground paste. This helps flavour the eggplants as they cook.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves. When the mustard begins to splutter add the ground masala paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the filled eggplants, salt and water enough to cover the eggplants. Close lid and place weight on the cooker. Let cook on medium high heat for 2 whistles. Turn off heat, stir, check for seasoning and serve with Akki Rottis.