La-La-La-Ladas!
At least once a week (if you don’t count leftovers!) Larissa and I enjoy an awesome plate of vegetarian enchiladas! If you’ve listened to the show for a while, it’s no secret that Vickie’s favorite type of food is Mexican food. With her Mexican and Central American grandparents, she grew up eating some wonderful Latin food.
Luckily, Latin food is VERY adaptable to vegetarian (and vegan!) cuisine! Enchiladas are especially versatile because so many vegetables make delicious fillings and there are multiple options for sauces.
In this episode of the Vegetarian Zen podcast, we focus on preparing some awesome vegetarian enchiladas, all of which can be easily adapted to vegan if that’s your preference. No time to listen to the podcast? No worries! We’ve summed up what we discuss in the show notes below!
 

 
It all starts with the tortilla
Before we get into filling your enchiladas, let’s talk about tortillas. Good quality tortillas are essential for great enchiladas…it doesn’t matter how good the fillings and sauces are if your tortillas are bad.
Larissa and I like to use Food For Life Sprouted Corn Tortillas, which are:

* Yeast Free
* High in Fiber
* Contain Sprouted Grains (sprouting generally increases the availability of nutrients in grains and are makes them easier to digest)
* Vegan
* Non-GMO

There are obviously a lot more brands out there so, as with most foods, just be sure to take a look at the ingredients. Food for Life Sprouted Corn tortillas contain:

* Organic Sprouted Corn
* Filtered Water
* Sea Salt
* Lime

Softening your tortillas
When it comes to softening the tortillas, we usually use heated oil to dip the tortilla in briefly on each side and then use a paper towel to pat down any excess oil.
If you don’t want to use oil, you can also steam the tortillas by wrapping them in a dampened paper towel and placing them in the microwave for a few seconds until they’re soft.
Another no-oil alternative is to heat them in a pan or comal for a few seconds on each side. This method might not work well, though, depending on the texture of the tortillas you are using.
Let’s get saucy!
Much like the tortillas, enchilada sauce is a critical component of good enchiladas. A bad sauce-and-filling combo is almost as bad as a poor wine pairing. When deciding on a sauce for your enchiladas, think about what will complement the filling you’re using.
Red or green sauce?
Yes, there IS a difference, and not just in color! Just like the wine analogy I used earlier, each sauce has a different flavor, so it’s great to understand how each can be used to elevate the flavor of your enchilada dish!
Red enchilada sauce is red because it’s made from red chilies, onions, garlic, and other seasonings (depending on the recipe). It tends to taste more “tomatoey” and “heavier” than green sauce. It’s typically used for beef and cheese enchiladas in traditional Mexican cuisine.
Green sauce (salsa verde) is green because it’s made with, you guessed it, green chiles! Some can also contain tomatillos, a very common ingredient in Mexican recipes. It tends to taste a bit “lighter” than red sauce (not as bold) and is used frequently for chicken dishes.
The spice factor of each depends on the spiciness of the chiles used. The label of off-the-shelf sauces will typically let you know if it’s considered spicy, or “hot”.
Off-the-shelf sauces
There are some pretty good store-bought shelf sauces out there. We buy Hatch Tex Mex Enchilada Sauce (a red sauce) which goes well with one of our favorite enchilada combinations — mushroom and spinach.