Enchiladas with Sesame-Seed-Cheese-Coated Vegetable Filling and Green Sauce

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Enchiladas with Sesame-Seed-Cheese-Coated Vegetable Filling and Green Sauce

 

The Sesame-Seed Cheese:

 

2 cups (approximately 1 pound) of raw tahini (Maranatha's works really well;

I've had problems with other brands)

 

1/2 to 3/4 cup of lemon and/or lime juice, pulp and/or whole fruit puree (if the

citrus is organic, I prefer the whole fruit puree)

 

About 10 cloves of fresh garlic smooshed or finely chopped

 

Salt, or another source of saltiness like soy sauce, bragg's liquid aminos, or

miso, to taste

 

Mix all ingredients until tahini stiffens (a reaction effect from the citrus

acids). It's not going to become hard or slicible, but it should become less

fluid and stiff enough to hold shape. If you're really ahead of yourself, you

can let this sesame cheese sit in a loosely covered container in the

refrigerator for about 3 days to develop a more cheesy flavor, but if not, it's

fine to use this right away.

 

The Vegetable Filling:

 

2 quarts/4 pounds steamed of any assortment of vegetables that you like. I like

a mixture of potatoes, corn, tomatillos, peppers both hot and mild, onion and

cilantro. Greens or broccoli would be good. You can adapt to whatever is in

season or to whatever you get donated if you're doing a mass food-not-bombs-type

feeding.

 

Mix steamed vegetables with the sesame cheese. The moisture of the vegetables

may make the sesame cheese more fluid, so having something starchy like

potatoes, winter squash or yams in the vegetable mix will help keep the filling

inside the tortillas, but this is an optional concern.

 

Optional ingredients for the filling: Walnuts, tofu that has been baked or

sauteed to remove excess moisture, pinions (pine nuts), pumpkin seeds (pepitas),

chopped or sliced olives, canned green chilies or jalapenos.

 

The Green Sauce (if you don't buy the premade enchilada sauce (watch for animal

fat if you do)):

 

2 pounds of a combination of tomatillos, peppers both hot and mild, onion,

garlic, cilantro and lime juice, pulp or whole fruit puree. At least 1 pound of

this should be the tomatillos, but otherwise there is a great deal of

flexibility depending on your tastes or availability of ingredients. If using

just lime juice, I would use the juice from 2 or 3 limes. If using the whole

lime, I would use just 1 lime.

 

Salt, or another source of saltiness, to taste.

 

A dabble of oil is optional.

 

Puree it all together. It's like making a salsa for chips, only you want it more

completely pureed. You can cook this for awhile before assembling the

enchiladas, but that's not entirely necessary. If you do cook it, however, you

might start with the whole tomatillos, as if you're making a tomato sauce, and

then, when it's cooked down, puree it right in the pot with a hand blender.

 

2-3 dozen corn tortillas

 

Assembling:

 

Warm tortillas. This can be done in bulk by putting on a plate, covering with an

inverted bowl, and microwaving for 3-5 minutes. Or wrap them in a damp, but not

dripping wet, towel and either zap in the microwave or stick into a preheated

350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Or warm tortillas one by one in an iron

skillet, or right on the iron coil burner or over the gas flame, as you assemble

the enchiladas.

 

One full pan will hold all of your enchiladas. If your pans are 9 by 9 or 10 by

10, say, then you will need two of them. Oil your baking pans. Put a thin layer

of the sauce in the pans before putting the tortillas in.

 

Place 2-3 tablespoons of filling in each tortilla, roll them up, and place in

pan. The tortillas may show their rebellious streak and try to unfurl, but put

the first one against the wall of the pan, then the next one right next to the

first one, and so on so that they hold each other in a rolled condition.

 

Optionally, put a layer of flat tortillas over the bottom layer of sauce, then

the filling in the next layer, and then a top layer of tortillas. Doing it this

way is not only easier, it gives you more options, such as to make multiple

layers of different fillings separated by tortillas.

 

Top the assemblage with the remainder of the sauce. Baking covered or open will

give slightly different results. If you've opted for multiple layers and have a

deep assemblage, then it's better to cover the pan while baking to give it a

longer baking time. If you have a shallow assemblage, like one layer of rolled

enchiladas, then bake uncovered to concentrated the flavor. Bake in your

preheated 350 degree oven for 45 to 75 minutes, shorter time for shallow and

uncovered pans, longer time for deep and covered pans.

 

Another option is to make burritos or wraps with flour tortillas or other flat

breads. I've done it this way in a summertime fundraiser, selling premade

burritos for $4 each and then giving the extras out at the Food Not Bombs

feeding, which was good timing since their soup that day was pretty thin. I've

also served warm, freshly assembled burritos with a bit of warm green sauce over

the top at the community meal where I cooked vegan food for 6 years. Warm your

flour tortilla before folding for bendability.

 

 

 

 

 

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