Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Enchiladas potosinas are the enchilada of San Luis Potosí — and they aren't really an enchilada at all in the sense that most Mexicans use the word. There's no rolling, no drenching in salsa. Instead, the masa dough itself is coloured red with a paste of dried ancho and guajillo chiles, then rolled into a tortilla, filled with fresh cheese and chile-onion salsa, folded in half like a giant empanada, cooked briefly on a comal, and finally pan-fried in oil until crisp. What arrives at the table is a crescent-shaped, brick-red, crisp little half-moon, split open at the counter, topped with lettuce, crema, queso fresco and slices of avocado.
Method
Toast the anchos and guajillos on a dry pan 20 seconds a side. Soak in hot water 15 minutes. Blend with garlic, cumin, oregano and 100ml of soaking water to a very smooth paste. Strain through a sieve.
In a large bowl, whisk the masa harina and salt. Add the melted lard and half the chile paste. Slowly add warm water, kneading, until you have a smooth soft dough. Add more paste as you go — the finished dough should be uniformly deep red-orange and softer than a normal masa dough. Rest 15 minutes.
Crumble the queso fresco in a bowl. Mix with the chopped onion, jalapeños, coriander and salt.
Divide the dough into 12 balls (slightly larger than a golf ball). Press each between baking paper into a 14cm round, 3mm thick. Spoon 1 heaped tbsp of the cheese filling onto one half of the round. Fold the empty half over the filling to make a half-moon. Press the edges to seal.
Heat a dry heavy pan over medium heat. Cook each enchilada 90 seconds a side to set the dough — do not brown fully. Transfer to a plate.
Warm the lard in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches: fry each enchilada 90 seconds per side, until crisped, deep red and slightly puffed. Drain on kitchen paper.
Arrange 3 fried enchiladas on each plate, slightly overlapping. Top with a generous handful of shredded lettuce, a drizzle of crema, a scatter of crumbled queso fresco, avocado slices, pickled jalapeños and radish slices.
Serve immediately with lime wedges. The enchiladas should still be warm and crisp when the toppings are added. Eaters cut with knife and fork, or eat with hands.
Tips
- Strain the chile paste. Any bits of skin or seed in the paste show up as black specks in the finished red masa. Push through a sieve with the back of a spoon.
- The dough should be softer than a normal tortilla dough. The chile paste replaces some of the water. If the dough cracks when you fold it, knead in another tbsp of water.
- Seal the edges firmly. A half-moon that leaks cheese in the fryer becomes a disaster.
- Two-stage cook. The comal step sets the dough; the fry step crisps it. Skip either and you get a raw or soggy enchilada.
- Fresh cheese, not aged. Queso fresco is a mild, moist, salty fresh cheese — the right texture and flavour for the filling. Aged cheeses (cotija, añejo) are too dry and salty for this specific filling.
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