Easy Beef Enchiladas

Ahhhmmm, enchiladas. Even the name of it sounds edible. On such a cold day, it was the comfort meal to make for dinner. I decided to do a bit of background research on it! This is because a.) I'm a nerd, and b.) spontaneous curiosity entered my system: Apparently, it originated from the Aztecs, who would eat fish wrapped in corn tortillas. The term 'enchilada' means chili filled, but that only first appeared around 1885. Woooo.

It's super easy to make, as the title says. I got it out of Chatelaine, a great Canadian magazine for women.

Prep. time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 7 minutes

Baking time: 15 minutes

Makes about... 8 enchiladas (6 if you want to make a smaller batch)

Ingredients:

2 lb (1 kg) ground beef or 3 340-g pkg veggie ground round

2 tbsp (30 mL) ground cumin

11/2 cups (375 mL) thick spicy salsa

400-g bag shredded cheese such as cheddar-and-mozzarella mix, about 4 cups (1 L)

1 cup (250 mL) coarsely chopped cilantro

8 medium flour tortillas, about 7 in. (17.5 cm) wide

1 cup (250 mL) regular sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 500F (260C). Oil a 9×13-in. (3-L) baking dish. Set a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Crumble in meat. Sprinkle with cumin and ½ tsp (2 mL) salt. (If using veggie ground round, omit salt.) Stir often with a fork to keep meat crumbly. Cook until no pink remains, about 5 min, or until veggie ground is hot. Stir in 1 cup (250 mL) salsa. When hot, stir in half the cheese and half the cilantro.
2. Place one tortilla on a cutting board. Spoon ¾ cup (175 mL) meat mixture down the centre. Dot with 1 tbsp (15 mL) sour cream. Roll tightly and place in dish, seam-side down with an open end touching the narrow side of dish. Place 3 rolls beside it. Fill the other half of dish with remaining rolls. Spread remaining ½ cup (125 mL) sour cream over tortillas. Top with remaining salsa and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese is golden, about 15 min. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Good with sliced avocados and sour cream.

*For a smaller batch, you can lower it down to 1 Ib of ground beef, as I did. If you want to use veggie ground, try at least 1 1/2 or 2. Just use 1 tbsp of the cumin. As for the sour cream, I just eye balled it.

*Same with the cheese--there's definitely no limit on that!

*Once again, sorry for the lack of a picture, but I did take a few, and as soon as my USB cord and camera are reunited with my computer, I will I shall let you know I have updated.