Enchiladas a la Iceland

An interesting fact about Iceland is that it is really difficult sometimes to find ingredients to make things that I'm used to from back home. And example of this is enchilada sauce. And I love chicken enchiladas. So I ended up coming up with my own recipe, and it variates a bit from traditional enchiladas, but is still one of mine and Jonas' favorite dishes. So I thought I'd share the recipe with you. I created this on my own, so I'm sorry if some of it is not the clearest.

Please also excuse the terrible lighting of my photos. I find our kitchen lighting to be rather dark.

First off, here are the ingredients you will need:

8 flour tortillas
1 jar of taco sauce
1 can of tomato sauce
1 cube of chicken bouillon
1 small can of tomato paste
1 bag of cheese
1 can (or homemade of course) of refried beans
1 can of corn
1 package of cooked and shredded chicken *note, you can always cook your own chicken breasts and shred them yourself, I just found the perfect chicken in our shops!
1 package of burrito seasoning
some water to thin out your sauce *to however thickness you prefer!
cayenne powder
some water to simmer your chicken in seasonings in *you can also use the water from this to thin out your sauce!




First off, I start by putting the chicken in a skillet, pouring 1/3 of the burrito seasonings into it along with some water, on medium heat with a lid.


While this is simmering, I take the taco sauce and puree it, while adding the tomato paste, sauce, bouillon cube, and 1/3 of the burrito seasonings together in a small pot. I add the puree to the sauce as well. I put cayenne pepper in to my own spicy taste, you can choose to add it or not. I put it on medium heat.


While waiting for these to cook, I preheat the oven on to 170C which I believe is 350 or something similar for the US.

I then take the tortillas, sprinkle a few drops of water on them, and put them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to soften them up, to make rolling easier.

I open my cans of corn, and beans, and prepare for rolling!



I then drain the water out of the chicken (you can then drain it directly into the sauce, or into the sink) and set it up near my corn, beans, and tortillas. I leave the sauce over the heat and keep it simmering. However, I do take a scoop of sauce and put it at the bottom of the casserole dish!

My method for rolling my enchiladas goes as follows:
1 scoop of beans
1 big scoop of chicken
1 small scoop of corn
top off with cheese, and roll up and put in the dish

Here is what it generally looks like before I roll it up!


and here they are getting laid out in the dish.

After I roll all 8 enchiladas, I find that I still have plenty of chicken left over. I usually then cover the tops with tons of sauce, really soaking them up, toss the rest of the chicken all over, and douse it with cheese. It generally looks like this before I put it into the oven:



I leave it in the oven for approx. 15 - 20 minutes, or until the cheese is turning brown (Jonas and I like the cheese to be a little crispy!)

Here is what it looks like when we take it out:


and dished out:



And man is it yummy.
So while this is by no means a traditional enchilada, it is still yummy, something different, and has the hint of Mexican flavor that I miss so much! I really hope that you don't have a hard time reading this, and that you find it as delicious as we do here in Iceland. Every time my husband eats this, he tells me "It's been too long since you've made this! You have to make it more often!". So I suppose that's a good sign!

If you do end up making this, let me know how it went for you!