Mexican Cooking

Enchiladas Recipe

Ingredients:

2 dozen Corn tortillas (mission is a good brand > 1 lb)

1 package of California dried Chiles (~20, very mild)

1 Whole Chicken

Chicken bouillon (powder or 5 cubes)

1 large onion (yellow or white is fine)

1 garlic head

2 lb. of Mexican cheese, Cheso Fresco. Cheddar cheese works too.

Instructions:

Chile sauce preparation:

Place the dried chiles (~20) in tap water and bring to boil (medium heat) for 1-3 hrs until the chiles become soft. The softer the better the sauce texture. In a blender, put all the chiles (without stem & seeds if possible), two garlic cloves, ¼ of onion, pour chicken stock until the blender is ½ - ¾ full. Blend until the sauce is smooth (not too runny or too thick), taste and add salt if needed.

Chicken Stock preparation:

Place the chicken pieces into a big sauce pan, put enough water to cover the pieces, add 4 cloves of garlic peeled and ¼ of onion in big pieces. Bring to boil slowly (med. low) cook the chicken for 1-2 hours. The chicken broth will be the liquid used for the enchilada sauce. Get the chicken out and let it cool down, shred to bite sizes.

Enchiladas’ preparation:

Take 5-6 corn tortillas at a time, put them in a plastic bag and put them in the microwave for 1 min, the tortillas should be steaming hot. Using one tortilla at a time, submerge into the enchilada sauce, then place hot tortilla smothered in chile sauce in a flat plate (enchilada prep here), put shreaded chicken in the middle then rolled the tortilla until is closed, and place in a casserole. After the first layer, put a cup of enchilada sauce on top, do a second later put another 1-2 cups of enchiladas sauce all around the top of the enchilada casserole. They need to be “wetted” with the sauce to avoid drying. Top with cheese, cover with foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Mexican Rice:

2 cups long grain white rice

2 Chicken Bouyons, or 4 cups of chicken stock

Onion, ¼ onion sliced in half

Garlic, one clove

Sautéed rice with onion and garlic until rice is golden , put 1/3 Cup of tomato sauce, 4 cups of chicken stock (or 4 cups of water with 2 chicken bouyon cubes). Stir and leave it alone. After boiling reduce to low heat. When the water evaporates, turn off the heat.

Guacamole:

4 ripe avocadoes

3 key limes

1 garlic clove, minced

Mix all the ingredients and add salt as needed. Serve in a bowl. Return the avocadoes seed to avoid fast oxidation.

Japanese Cooking

Sushi

Sushi Rice
-3 cups rice
-4TB sugar
-3tsp salt
-1/3cup rice vinegar

1.First cook the rice. (I recommend using a rice cooker. For the best result, I wash the rice and leave it in a colander for 1hour before I cook it.)
2.mix all the rest of the ingredients and stir well. (If you have time, it's better to leave this overnight)
3.When the rice is still hot, take it out in a shallow container and mix with 2.
Here is the video for you to see how sushi chef does this!
Important point is 1.coat each rice with the vinegar liquid. 2. have the rice breathe with a lot of air!

If you can make the sushi rice well, then you are done! You can put anything as a topping and roll it or make a ball with it. Great for a party!
I use "Mirin" for pretty much everything. This is a great thing to add if you are making "Teriyaki" or like this time, cooked beef. It goes well with soy sauce.


Miso Soup 4 servings
-vegitables that you like (carrots, daikon, potatoes, kabocha squash, spinach, seaweed etc)
-tofu
-3cups water
-1tsp full katsuo dashi(bonito broth)
-1/2ladle miso
←This is "HonDashi":Bonito broth
1.put vegitables, water and dashi in a pot and bring it to a boil.
2.when the vegitables are soften, turn it down to low heat.
3.dissolve miso gradually
4.add tofu and if you like, topping with sliced green onions.

I bought all the ingredients in Boulder. Here is the map for a small Asian market in Boulder.