Leftover chili-smothered enchiladas
This is another dish that I decided to assemble out of ingredients we had on hand, and it turned out very satisfying!
Over the weekend, I cooked a pretty big batch of a fairly saucy basic ground meat and three-bean chili in the Instant Pot. The next time I make some, I will be sure to post a recipe. At any rate, we had plenty of yummy leftover chili to use up. Instead of freezing all of it or just eating it over pasta again, today I decided to combine it with the remnants of a package of tortillas from the freezer.
You can use any protein you prefer in the filling. This “sauce” component already had plenty of meat and beans. I did consider just going with fried onions and cheese, but we also had plenty of eggs on hand and that seemed worth trying. It did work well together.
You could make a delicious vegetarian version using veggie chili, with a tofu scramble filling. I sometimes used to cook similar as a more straightforward red sauce enchilada dish.
Tonight, we just served this with some remarkably decent premade “pizza salad” from Lidl. But, any type of fresh leafy salad would be good on the side.
Leftover Chili Smothered Egg and Onion Enchiladas
Materials
- 6 corn tortillas
- 3-4 tablespoons oil neutral oil of choice
- 2 medium onions
- 4 cups prepared chili (1L)
- 8 ounces grated melting cheese (250g)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil to grease pan
Filling
- 1 large onion, or two smallish halved and sliced (around 1.25 c. or 300ml cut onion)
- sprinkle salt for cooking onions
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large eggs or 3 medium
- 2 teaspoons milk, or other liquid for eggs
- seasonings to taste
To Serve
- Sour cream
- Green onions sliced/chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C.
- Cut the onions. We had more red onions, but use whatever you like.
- Grate your cheese, if necessary. I used a Cheddar-like Swedish "household cheese", but any melty cheese you prefer should work.
- Start onions sautéing in olive oil over medium heat, with a pinch of salt to help them sweat down. Cook covered for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then uncover and fry a few more minutes until they begin to brown a little around the edges.
- Gently beat eggs in a bowl with a splash of milk. I also added a dash of Knorr Aromat seasoning to these.
- Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the onions, and scramble them together. Season to taste while cooking; I used a sprinkle of Creole seasoning. Reserve this filling to the side. (We had more than needed, so I reduced quantities a little for this recipe writeup.)
- Assemble your other ingredients. (I was prepping two dishes at once. Ignore the pasta for now!)
- Grease an 8"x8" (roughly 20cmx20cm) baking dish with more olive oil. Cover the bottom with some of your chili, ready for the enchiladas.
Tortilla Prep, and Enchilada Assembly
- Heat your neutral oil over medium-high heat, to fry the tortillas. This step is optional, but highly recommended to help keep them from cracking or falling apart in the sauce.
- Fry each tortilla for around 30 seconds to a minute per side, flipping them over once the edges start puffing and blistering. Remove once the middle starts puffing, and set aside to drain on paper towels, stacking as you cook more. Heat-safe tongs are useful. You want them to still be soft and pliable, but with a little fried surface.
- It's time to get your assembly line going!
- This isn't the way I would normally wrap enchiladas, but no need for a sauce layer on these. We're just going with maybe a tablespoon of grated cheese (some Comté my partner picked up at Costco, in this case), then a heaping spoonful of the egg filling–which looks pretty terrible with the red onion changing color as it sat in the egg!
- It will all be smothered in chili very soon, so it's all good. Roll up, and add to the waiting pan. This was a particularly mild batch of chili, so I decided to also dress them up with a few splashes of a potent and delicious local habanero sauce. (Top ingredient by weight: habaneros.)
- Spread the rest of the chili over top of your enchiladas.
Cooking
- We're going to take a shortcut here, working with cold chili!
- Cover the baking dish, and microwave on 80% power for 9-10 minutes or until the middle is thoroughly hot. Remove, and uncover again.
- Now it's time for the rest of the grated cheese to go on top. (Again, please ignore the other dish for now!)
- Pop the pan into the preheated oven to finish it off, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is nicely melted to your liking and the chili is bubbling around the edges.
- Let rest out of the oven for 10 minutes or so, then dig in! Sour cream and sliced green onion make excellent accompaniments.