A beautiful, hearty meal. Prep/cooking time is roughly an hour and a half (including time for a bit of kitchen dancing) so it's a nice one to save for a Friday/Saturday night if you're pushed for time mid-week. The number of steps seems daunting but it's actually really easy and so worth it. We served ours with a salsa type salad of tomatoes, avocado and red onion and a rocket and little gem salad.
For the chicken:
1kg Chicken Thighs
1tsp Ground Cumin
1tsp Ground Coriander
2tsp Smoked Paprika (not sure why you'd ever use the other kind to be honest)
2 Red Onions
For the sauce:
50g Salted Butter
2 garlic cloves
1.5tbsp tomato puree
50g plain flour
500ml chicken stock
2tbsp chipotle paste
0.5 tsp cayenne pepper
For the enchiladas:
6 flour tortillas (full size)
100g cheddar cheese (plus a bit extra for snacking)
1 tin sweetcorn
1 green chilli
small bunch of coriander
salt
olive oil
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven at 200'. In a large bowl, mix the paprika, coriander and cumin. Add the chicken thighs, salt and a glug of olive oil. Add 3/4 of the red onion to a baking dish and pop the chicken on top. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes.
2. Onto the sauce! Finely slice the garlic and gently heat the butter in a saucepan. Add in the tomato puree and garlic. Cook for a couple of mins, add in the flour and cook for another 2 minutes.
3. Add in the chipotle paste, cayenne pepper and a bit of extra paprika for good measure. Gradually pour in the chicken stock, whisking until smooth before adding more. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer until thickened (2-5 minutes). Salt to taste.
4. Once the chicken is ready, shred it using two forks to pull the meat off the bones. Remove the bones and pour any excess juices into your sauce. (Reduce again slightly if necessary.)
5. Assembly time! Divide the chicken between the tortillas, placing the meat in the centre of each tortilla. Roll them up like a pancake, then nestle them all into a baking dish. Pour the sauce on top, focusing on a line down the middle. You want the tortilla ends to poke out a little. Grate the cheddar and sprinkle it on top and bang in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Dice the remaining onion and chilli and add to a bowl with some salt, squeeze the lime over the top and mix.
7. Drain and dry the sweetcorn, add to a frying pan over a high heat with a drizzle of oil. Fry until slightly browned/lightly charred. Set aside to cool.
8. Add the sweetcorn to your onion mix and sprinkle over the enchiladas with some chopped coriander to serve.