FAQ (Questions and Answers)

• What are the other types of enchiladas?

  • Enchiladas with meat and chile rojo (with red chili), a traditional red enchilada sauce made from dried red chilies soaked and ground into a sauce with other seasonings, Chile Colorado sauce adds a tomato base.
  • Enchiladas with mole, instead of chili sauce, are served with mole, and are also known as enmoladas.
  • Placera are in Michoacán Plaza style, made with vegetables and poultry.
  • Poblano enchiladas are soft corn tortillas filled with chicken and poblano chilies, topped with Oaxaca cheese.
  • Potosinas come from San Luis Potosi and are made with spiced masa filled with cheese.
  • The San Miguel enchiladas in the style of San Miguel de Allende, flavored with guajillo chilies.
  • Enfrijoladas are topped with refried beans instead of chili sauce; their name comes from frijol, which means “bean”.
  • Entomatadas are made with tomato sauce instead of chili sauce.
  • Stacked Enchiladas (enchiladas montadas) are a New Mexico, hence Tex-Mex, variation where corn tortillas are fried soft (but not hard), then stacked with red or green sauce, chopped onion, and grated cheese between the layers and on top of the stack. Ground meat or chicken can be added to the filling. The stack is often topped (montada) with a fried egg. Lettuce and black olives can be added as garnish.
  • Green Enchiladas are topped with green sauce and typically made with white corn tortillas, filled with chicken, and topped with queso fresco.
  • Enjococadas are baked corn tortillas covered in jocoque (fermented Mexican dairy) and filled with queso panela and poblano chili.
  
  

• What about in other Central American countries?

  In Costa Rica, the enchilada is a common, small, spicy sweet made with puff pastry filled with diced potatoes flavored with a common variant of Tabasco sauce or similar sauces. Other variants include fillings based on spicy chicken or ground beef.
  
  In Honduras, they are flat, fried corn tortillas topped with ground meat, salad toppings (usually cabbage and tomato slices), a tomato sauce (often ketchup mixed with butter and other spices like cumin), and crumbled or grated cheese.
  
  In Nicaragua, they are corn tortillas filled with a mixture of ground meat and rice with chili, then folded and covered with egg batter and fried. They are commonly served with a cabbage and tomato salad (pickled salad or with cream and tomato sauce).
  
  The Guatemala version more commonly starts with a fresh lettuce leaf, then a layer of “picado de carne,” which includes generally ground beef, chicken, or pork and diced vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, green beans, peas, red peppers, garlic, bay leaf, seasoned with salt and black pepper).
  The next layer is “curtido” which includes more vegetables (cabbage, beets, onions, and carrots).
  Then there are two or three pieces of sliced hard-boiled egg, then thinly sliced white onion, and finally a drizzle of mild red sauce.
  The dish is topped with queso seco or queso fresco and garnished with cilantro.

• What kind of tomato is the tomatillo?

  Originating from Mexico, it is cultivated as an annual plant throughout the Western Hemisphere; the green fruits are used for making sauces or consumed fried, boiled, or steamed.

• What cheese is queso Manchego? What can it be substituted with?

  A pale yellow cheese, it is consumed on its own or melted over dishes, retaining its consistency. Similar to its Spanish namesake, it is often made with cow’s milk rather than sheep’s milk.
  It can be substituted with mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Asiago, and English Cheddar.