Recipe: Quick Enchilada Sauce

This evening I had some left over rice from last night, plus an open can of refried beans from a few days ago. With tortillas, chili powder, onions, cheese, and some crushed tomatoes sitting about, enchiladas seemed like a pretty good solution for supper. The only problem -- no enchilada sauce (not that I care much for canned enchilada sauces anyway).

After doing a quick search for enchilada sauce recipes, I found one. The problem? It wanted whole dried and fresh chiles. This being Petersburg on New Year's Day means no grocery stores are open. Hoping for the best, I modified the recipe to use some Dark Red Chili Powder of which I have a nice big, food service size container.

To my tastebuds, the result was quite pleasing. It beats most pre-packaged sauces and it is quick enough that I would do this again in a heartbeat.

Quick Enchilada Sauce

Makes about 2-1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 tbsp. sesame seeds
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• A shake or two, ground cloves
• A shake or two, ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1/8 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 can (about 7 oz.) crushed tomatoes
• 3 tbsp. (or more to taste) dark red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. When hot, fry onions until they begin to turn a golden brown. Add sesame seeds and continue to fry for 30 seconds to a minute. Add garlic, cloves, and cinnamon and stir and fry for a few more seconds.
2. Add water, vinegar, tomatoes, chili powder, and cocoa powder. Stir to mix well. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir frequently as sauce thickens, 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat.
3. Transfer sauce to blender and blend to a puree. Alternatively, use a hand blender to puree the sauce in the pan, making sure that there is sufficient depth so that the entire bottom of the blender is in the sauce. (If you don't, you run the risk of spraying the sauce all over your kitchen like I started to do.)