"Roasted" Enchilada Sauce

Some things in life are much better when made from scratch, like this enchilada sauce for example. "Whole" enchilada is a traditional Mexican dish where stuffed tortillas are covered and cooked in tomatoes & chile based "enchilada" sauce. When your sauce is rightly flavored, the whole enchilada turns out just right... like MAGIC...!

This sauce uses a secret ingredient (red bell-pepper), can be made in short time, extremely tasty & flavorful. Pardon my bragging but this recipe uses only fresh, organic & real ingredients. No-CANNED-ingredients of any sort.. now, isn't that cool?

The sauce gets its spice-kick from jalapeños and red chili powder. I used 1/2 tsp of red chili powder and the sauce was moderately spicy. Feel free to adjust red chili powder according to your liking. Some recipes uses all purpose flour as thickening agent, but this sauce works well without it too!

A simple trick to check the doneness of the sauce - place a spoon (wood/metal) in the sauce. Remove, and run your finger through the middle of the sauce. If a clear path is left, the sauce is ready.

Basic Info

Complexity - Simple

Prep time - 10-12 mins

Cook time - 10-15 mins

Serves - about 1.5 cups

Ingredients

1 large red Bell-pepper

1 lbs ripe roma Tomatoes (about 10)

3 cloves Garlic

1/2 medium sized Onion, quartered

2 Jalapeños

1 tsp Cumin powder

1/2 tsp Red chilli powder

1 tsp dried Oregano

1 tbsp fresh Oregano, chopped

Salt, to taste

1 tsp Brown sugar

Method

Place tomatoes, bell-pepper, garlic, onions, and jalapeño on a medium baking tray. Place the tray under hot broiler (change the oven settings accordingly) and char the ingredients for about 9 to 10 minutes, turning them halfway through.

Remove the skin from bell-pepper, garlic cloves, tomatoes and let it cool. Place garlic, bell-pepper, tomatoes (along with its juices), onion, jalapeño in the blender and purée until smooth.

Return the puree onto a pan. Add cumin powder, red chilli powder, dried oregano, salt, brown sugar and let the sauce reduce until it coats the back of a spoon (takes about 10-15 mins). Lastly, add fresh oregano and remove from heat.

Store it in a dry jar until use.